Thread: Stepping in to the Fire

Originally Posted by PhilosopherStoned

What did the Shaman say about hippies?

He basically said that they didn't actually cherish nature, they just cherished some idea they had of it.
He also said they just smoked marijuana and didn't learn anything.
And that is why there are none left.

I take issue with it because some of them definitely did cherish nature and want to "get in touch" with it, and
They didn't just smoke marijuana for fun.
Further, the only reason anyone in the West even has any knowledge whatsoever of DMT/Ayahuasca is because of the hippy movement and
people like Terrence McKenna going to the Amazon and Africa and other parts of the world to discover their medicines.
None of that would have happened without the hippy movement.

I do see where you're coming from Omnis, but you can't just apply blanket statements to whole groups of people.
The hippy movement did not come and go. It is still here and it changed the course of our culture for the better.
There would be no green movement were it not for the hippy movement.
It is not dead.

Yes there were a lot of them who just wanted to get fucked up and there were a lot of people who, because of lack of tradition behind the drugs they were taking, did not find answers from the drugs but instead just ruined their lives, had bad experiences etc.

I think the only reason people become addicted to drugs is that very reason, no tradition or culture behind it all and therefore no respect for the drug's power.
It is obvious when looking at tobacco and alcohol here. Tobacco being more relevant to the discussion. Indians did not get addicted to tobacco, they used it for a purpose. We found it and got high off it and got addicted; we used it as a vice.
Indians got alcohol from us and the same thing happened to them.
Of course no culture has any real traditions or history or respect for alcohol, so it will fuck up any culture it is introduced to.

However, some hippies DID respect the drugs of the time and they did learn a lot.