the new hippies' series: (3) buddhism

Most of the new hippies are Buddhist. It is not only that they like tankas and Buddha images and a particular kind of clothes (even though those clothes have nothing to do with it, see (1) below). Besides they are interested in meditation and other techniques, and some of them declare openly they are looking for enlightenment. In those gatherings of the hanging dicks, see (2), there's plenty of Buddhist stuff, and for example in Madrid there are a couple of clubs which are really fancy and decorated with Buddhas and praying flags.

Most of the hippies are vegetarian (well that's kind of fancy in general these days) and they don't smoke nor drink nor have drugs (some of them; others go for trance parties...), they follow the principles of Buddhist monks, except for the free sex (there's no way around it; even if there are some famous Buddhist schools in the US who are famously quite tolerant about it, it is difficult to put free sex and Buddhism together).

A friend of mind from Japan explained me she's half Buddhist half Shintoist, and for her Buddhism is a religion about the suffering of life. If you look at it that way, it is strange to see those western people calling themselves Buddhist.

It is as if there were new hippies in Japan dresses kind of gothic who called themselves Catholics and read the bible (better say some books from Japanese authors explaining the ideas of the bible, because the book itself would be too obscure) and made huge parties drinking lots of red wine and having lots of sex because Jesus said love each other as I have loved you. Besides they would come to Europe and visit the churches and be very happy to join during mass and communion. It would be just as weird.

the new hippies' series: (2) hanging dicks

Hippies' views on sex are not that innovative: no surprises, they are for free sex. Having sex is a natural thing, every civilized person should be modern by now and spontaneous and unconstraint and remove all religious and cultural taboos about sex.

They're right, of course! During their gatherings they wander around and participate in whatever activities they've planned while most of them are naked -a friend of mine confessed to me she got fedup of the army of hanging dicks.


Sex and being naked are just natural; however, what is "natural"? For an animal, it is natural to be naked, especially if it has a fur cover for protection in winter. Regarding sex, even though it depends a lot on the kind of animal, there's always a link to reproduction strategies; for instance for mammals, since pregnancy is long and the new-borns are quite vulnerable and dependent for a while afterward, females need help and rely on their partners, thus they usually look for a male that is not only healthy and strong but trustworthy and decent -females are not happy with just anybody. Males on the other hand take at least part of the responsibility, however they try to be as promiscuous as possible (simply as their policy, no hard feelings).


However humans are not animals, that's why one has to be careful with the meaning of "natural" and check out a dictionary maybe: "natural" could be something shared with everybody else, which has not been learned, and also it could be something just reasonable. (And there's a few more unrelated entries.)


"Reasonable" means accepted and relates to culture. Traditionally, sex roles have been linked to perpetuation and building up families. At the present time in the West it is not the case anymore: sex has been "liberalised". Which means (Houellebecq's explanation is wonderful) that some wealthy people get a lot more than before (including maybe most hippies), average people get somewhat more, and even though it's a land of opportunities and freedom, there's for some reason a number of people that get nothing at all: the homeless of sex.


In conclusion: nothing.


I don't know what hippies mean by "natural". They have lots of sex, but not just with anybody -that's the only thing I can assure you. Or maybe it is just an excuse (to hide my regret) because obviously they have never been my "laying ground"!!!

the new hippies' series: (1) dress up!

In a effort to become completely banal and non-transcendent, I've figured out I'll start a series on the new hippies.



(I'd like to say I'm one of them, it would be a mild means of self-abuse, as well it would help to ensure I'm going to make an accurate description; anyhow, some people might think I'm behaving a bit weird for the last few years. In one way or another I should be able to prove I have been thriving on with them, at least observing them for a long while; for example, if I'm going to tell you they are easy going with sex, then I should add I got laid with lots of them -however you know there's no shortcuts with love in general, and it does not get much easier with hippies -nor more difficult.)





1st chapter of the series is about the very 1st thing which is apparent with hippies: their looks.



One might get the impression they are very much authentic and dress up in the ways of some remote and unknown culture (towards the East, usually). I met a very agreeable Turkish girl in Ayvalik; she's friendly and her english is very decent, she's open-minded, curious and genuine. She lives in Istanbul and a while ago some of her friends abroad came for a visit, and ask her to take them shopping. They were looking for some clothes but they did not like what she was showing them; they were looking for something more "authentic", they said. She asked them to be more precise and they explained there were some kind of Turkish pants in which the fabric between the legs was opened until the knee. She understood then: yes those pants were probably traditional, mostly used by countryside people in small villages, and as far as she knew it was impossible to get them in the capital.

Turkish people are in general in a big conflict between old and new, east and west, still they stay quite traditional in many of their views, towards the family for example; their pop & rock music is such a mixture they usually add the label "anatolian" into it. However, they would never dress like a farmer -and they see no conflict in that regard.

It's quite the same in India, where foreigners (and in particular new hippies) look like nobody else around -as expected by the locals of course. They've actually realised and they produce clothing in the particular touristy styles and flavours.

A minute of doubt

Finally I left Istanbul and it was not easy of course. I met some very nice people over there and I managed once again to tie a rope from my ankle to another city, a link which made it hard to leave. (Alternatively, as N Kelman puts it, "nowhere is worth going except where we left, and the faster we go the further away from there we get" -another trick of the monster inside.)

In Madrid I got worried because I don't want to stay very long (winter in such a cold place? no way!), however it seemed it was difficult to get a room for such a short period, even worse for a flexible period. And I had this minute of doubt: do I really need to stay in Madrid? should I go elsewhere? but where and why? I just felt I need to be somewhere (anywhere) for a while with no flights in the horizon, no departure date. Much better it would be to stay anywhere for a particular reason. But where and why, anyway?


However it took me less than 24 hours to find a place (maybe it's not perfect but for sure it's good enough) and I removed my worry, I made "lots of space in my mind" and I realised I had been a bit silly during my minute of doubt -since I actually know what to do (and the reasons) if I just stop and think about it. (The places are not so important, if they were I would not wander around so much.)


The day after I was having breakfast with a friend, we were about to leave for the weekend and he had gone to bed late and was tired, he had to pack his bag, was lazy, and the thought of having to do it was painful. He said he knew it would take him 30 seconds since he had to take only the minimum stuff for the weekend, but still, it was painful. I told him maybe he could pay somebody to do it so that he could remove the worry and make "space in his mind". Which was pretty much the same as my moment of doubt.

"Everybody has worries that look exaggerated and idiot to others" -that's only a symptom, a sign that shows how it works inside.


(The post itself looks exaggerated and idiot to me, I wonder why I wrote it! I don't quite recall how this nadaist thing became a kind of (lonely) preaching about these tiny movements of the mind. I'll have to put it upside down.)