the Meta define what hippie/hippy means to you/ labels thread

The Joy of Fishes
by Chuang Tzu (250 B.C.)

Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu
Were crossing Hao river
By the dam.

Chuang said:
"See how free
The fishes leap and dart:
That is their happiness,"

Hui replied:
"Since you are not a fish
How do you know
What makes fishes happy?"

Chuang said:
"Since you are not I
How can you possibly know
That I do not know
What makes fishes happy?"

Hui argued:
"If I, not being you,
Cannot know what you know
It follows that you
Not being a fish
Cannot know what they know."

Chuang said:
"Wait a minute!
Let us get back
To the orginal question.
What you asked me was
'How do you know
What makes fishes happy?'
From the terms of your question
You evidently know I know
What makes fishes happy.
"I know the joy of fishes
In the river
Through my own joy, as I go walking
Along the same river."

 

There are 1000's of different types of "hippies". And there are different levels.

Some are country, some are city people.

Some have their heads in an abstract world. Others are more logical.

Some are kind and politically correct. Others are a bit rough around the edges.

Some are foolish. Others are great role models.

And they all come from different cities and backgrounds that makes them form into different people.

I guess you could call me a "hippy", but I am totally different than lots of other hippies I meet because of my own life experiences and philosophies.

Nobody is "real" or "fake", you just are what you are, in this moment.

 

Nice Post...:2thumbsup:...And May I Welcome You To The Hip Forums....



Cheers Glen.

 

Thanks a lot. It's great to be here. It's always nice to connect with people. That's what life's all about :sunny:

 

Very nice post! All I need is :love: :sunny: and :sifone:

 

You're already more of a hippie than 90% of the hippies I know. Where I live, there is a kind of weird confluence of what I would define as neo-hippies, neo-punks and rave kids. They sometimes attend the same festivals and frequent similar drinking establishments/clubs and have a tendency to make life unpleasant for those of us who would consider ourselves "authentic". Allow me to offer up my definition for each.

1. neo-hippie, - Primary reason for being in the scene is to score drugs. Wants to take any and every kind of drug and any mixture of drugs so that they can brag about the quantity of drugs they've ingested and how fucked up they were. neo-hippies go to festivals to score and take drugs, or to drink - alot - (they have only a faint interest in the music and art they are being exposed to). The extent of their political beliefs and activism doesn't run much deeper than the 1 sentence bumper sticker or T-shirt they purchase. They litter, are pointlessly loud, can be rude, have no qualms about stealing beer or shitting next to your tent, and they can be easily spotted purchasing camping supplies at any Wal-Mart with 50 miles of a given venue. Basically, they're frat boys and sorority disco bunnies dressed up as hippies. These are the jack-asses that break down fences and ruin shows at - say - Deer Creek for example.

#2 neo-punks - basically you can replace "neo-hippie" with "neo-punk" and "festival" with "show" in the 1st description and you have your definition of neo-punk.

#3 rave-kids - Equally obnoxious and pointless, except they're not pretending to be otherwise - so I can't dislike them as much as #1 and #2. They are A-political, which really annoys the shit out of me, but at least they're honest about it. Culture is cyclical - these are the latest incarnation of the decadent disco and roller rink kids of the 70's. Equally unimportant and meaningless.

 

Even in the days when LSD was actually LSD and flower power meant something, the definition of 'hippie' was very sloppy. In general a tendency to avoid materialism, consumerism, follow ecological sanity, ignore fashion and investigate alternative ways of living were hallmarks. However, even us hippies had our differences and arguments. There were hippies who hated homosexauls, male hippies who treated women badly as they've always been treated - the list goes on. OK, it was in general, and still can be, a revolutionary ideal with the power to change so much and still threaten established authority but it never was heaven on earth unadulterated. Those of us who haven't given up the occasional bong in our dotage and still hold down responsible positions in society though wonder if the younger generation could actually cope with what we put ourselves through. Imagine giving the iPod kiddies a real does of pure LSD ! I suspect they'd go nuts.
Possibly you can get closer to an accurate definition of hippie by simply asserting a hippie is anything but straight but then your left with the problem of defining straight.

 

hey folks, this is my inaugural post, so i thought i would introduce myself in the hippie forum as it is probably the most applicable for myself - according to the few that know me, or at least those stare at me on the street... needless to say, i don't really get along with people. my "hippie" ideals are incompatible with many (particularly those of my age group) to the extent that i have ended up disliking people in general as a result of the pressure to conform. i am not afraid to declare myself a misanthropist; a hermit. i wouldn't say that being a misanthropist and a hippie contradict each other, but rather compliment, as the misanthropic ideals are a means of preserving self, being too compassionate to others can sometimes hinder individualism. as Karl mentioned above, the term 'hippie' is very broad and judged on the basis of comparison with what is 'straight',

so is being a hippie purely for personal fulfilment, or is it based upon compassion for other people/things? is it becoming harder to be compassionate to those who judge hippies as costume party outfits rather than people with so strong ideals, they stray from society?

 

Welcome To HF Renee...



Cheers Glen.

 

First, hi GG.
We just met on my intro thread, discussing what is "Hip".
Glad you stopped by.

Now about this hippy thing.
The OP said:

This made me think that a fake is a copycat, someone who is following a fad. Which perhaps just about everyone is in a consumer mindset.
I think the real hippies tried to get out of this trap.

I once heard a TV preacher say that to be HIP means to know whats up and that Jesus was hip, and christians were 'hippies' {H.W. Armstrong}

I guess I thought that way.

I think the fad of hippydom made lots of fakes and the drugs added to it.

I must say this is a great thread with responses like:

and even better:

Yupper, being a true hippy is about being happy.
All the labels:
Hippy
Trippy
Yippie

are for soup cans, HAPPY isnt a fad-label its a state of psychological being.

the language here gets agressive but still good replies:

There is some hateful feelings here but I wouldnt disagree, just reword it.
I know Ive fallen into this category at times, but most the time not. As far as the LAZY insult goes, its hard to want to work for a corporate/banking monopoly once becoming HIP to how it works. I suppose this author hates themself somewhat as hating arrogance might include one of the words used.


In the end I would define a true man/woman as REAL
and I think once the word hippy stood for that [on the inside]
I was suprised the hippy movement goes back to the 1930s when Hitler rose in Germany the "beat scene" began in America, in France it goes back to the late 1800s [The Movable Feast]

For me people who know are hip
Knowledge
Veda
Wicca
Wit
Witch
Gnosis

all words that represent "being in the know".

I still have much to learn about this culture/movement, but its often mistakely seen as ariginating with the war resistance movement which it far predates.



Yes the correct spelling should be HAPPY not HIPPY.

 

Hippie - Happy individual person persuing individual enlightenment
Hippie - Helping in perusing people's individual enlightenment.

I dont like the label really, but I'd rather be classed as a hippie than classed as a sheep! To me, hippie can mean whatever you want it to, my personal perception of being a hippie is being someone who persues what they truly desire in life rather than the bulk standard that's fed to us from birth. Whether that means becoming a vegetarian and adopting mistreated animals or whether it means moving to a far away place and meditating on a mountain. To be a hippie is to be a happy individual, one that knows and understands individuality and creativity but also knows that we are all one, equals of the earth.

For me, life isn't what you make it because honestly it was made for you years before birth, life is something which people need to tackle and use to find their soul.

One day the whole world will come into realisation and there will be no need for such labels.

Peace out!

 

I really have to agree with this person. You want to be a real hippie, have you done the research on being a real hippie. Most don't shave any hairy parts of their body, possible are into dreading (I do say I enjoy a man with dreads), are aware of what they eat, what chemicals are in their food, products. NOT ABOUT VICTORIA'S FUCKING SECRET. Maybe you want to be a hipster, I am unaware what your intentions as a person who wants to be different are. So what I tell most people is, you're beautiful, nobody can pick and choose what you do, what you wear, who you talk to and if your "friends" think you are "fake" then they obviously forgot who the person inside of you really is. Making change isn't for the worst, or for anyone but yourself. If they can't see that, or understand... well find better friends.
I know a person who walks around barefoot everyday. He showers but prefers not to use soap (Dr. Bromners if prefered), we dumpster dive together, buy second hand clothes from our local thrift store, or even the dumpster. Yes I will shop online, but that's for personal needs, what I can not find in my local grocery store or recently some hiking sandals that I adore. By any means do I consider him or I, a hippie, no...but people who could care that much less about what others consider us or how they perceive our intentions in this world. Be a hippie, be anything you want to be. Just remember where you came from.

 

I find myself in a similar position with the exception that today's 'hippies' impress me as so fundamentally insincere that if you gave them a good dose of LSD they would not cope, ever.
As to the continued assertion that hippies are lazy and dirty I suggest anyone holding such view hasn't had a close look at the billion dollar music industry or any other area of creativity that went through a revolution in the so called 'hippie era'. What's also avoided is the reality that many captains of industry and leaders of society are old hippies who've learnt to hide their real nature for fear of persecution, loss of employment etc. Having retired from the top end of corporate business a few years ago I can attest to the high number of members of that group who once called themselves hippies but still smoke dope and snort coke on the side.
Nothing's changed but the disguises people. For those of you who think being a geriatric hippie and working in the corporate world is a contradiction I suggest you google ( hate that word as a verb) 'Ethical Investment' and have a close look at the people at the top.
so, I'm proud to be a geriatric hippie but wonder will they allow me to pass the bong in the old peoples home when I get there.

 

The last post is along the lines of my question. In today's world with drug testing and all. What is it that you all do for a living ? Or...how is it that you get past the drug testing ? Sorry...didn't mean to high jack the thread but after reading through it all I just guessed this was as good as place as any to ask the question.

 

Well I'm a graphic designer, but I also don't smoke weed or (drink very much anymore for that matter). Most run-of-the-mill drug tests only test for marijuana, opioids and cocaine. Some would argue, but in my experience that last two are not drugs of choice when it comes to hippies. In any case, people are always coming up with clever methods and gadgets for passing piss tests - it's like an arms race. You'll also find hippies gravitating towards employers who don't have this requirement - frequently these are low paying jobs, but hippies can be very frugal and most know how to make do (and I might add that I predict that hippies will fare better than most in the face of this impending energy crisis in the decades to come).

Some of the hardest working people I know are hippies, and frankly I know more hippies that are completely drug free than I do "straight" people, including the ones who rely on Pfizer as a dealer, so that they can face their shitty job and life each morning. I'm no expert on illicit drugs, but despite what you've been lead to believe, being a hippie is not synonymous with illicit drug use any more than is transcendental meditation, racquet ball, or hot air balloons. Hippies are open to all kinds of novel and illuminating experiences, and yes that includes psychedelic drug use, but it's certainly not a requirement or pre-requisite.

 

I didn't mean that I was lead to believe all hippies are druggies. Sorry about that. I was just sitting here reading through this post and alot of other ones and its seems that there still are a large majority that do drugs. Me..wishing I was one of them. Well...at least pit that is. But all in thanks to random drug testing that's just not an option at my current place of employment.

Anyways...that's why I asked the question. Just seems about all jobs these days test at some point in time or another.

 

I'm not a stereotypical hippy but to me being a hippy means to be what you want to be, oppose the mainstream because we don't need to follow the norm and to love and respect nature. I'm not the type that uses drugs like the stereotype hippy nor do I dress in hippy clothes. I also ponder on all those flaws of the western world and how it doesn't have to be the way it is. So I'm rather unhippy-like but still a hipster. I also avoid bad foods and have as much of a natural diet as possible much like a cave man.

 

its a thing that comes from inside you, not what outside people thing about you! if you love yourself, others, the world, life, and seek to expand your mind.. well, your already one!

 

Like most of the sensible people are suggesting, don't worry about their opinions! Continue to spread the message of peace, love, freedom, and happiness! That's what it's all about!

 

for me being a hippie or a true hippie was a state of mind. be your self. be free be happy acknowledge the beauty in the world. let love guide your thoughts and your action. peace