the new hippies' series: (4) working the least

Not that I'm going to criticise anybody who does not like working, of course not. Old and new hippies and myself.

Some of them find their way through, they work a few months in overpriced Europe while they are living humbly (even in a squat), and during the rest of the year they go abroad anywhere cheap and make good value of their money. Others are just stingy and think twice before spending every cent.

My flatmate last summer, for example, she was a bit like that. We were not really organized when we had to buy something for the house (e.g. soap, toilet paper); one of us just got it whenever either she or I found it was missing. Gradually I realised she would not find anything missing, she just waited. I wanted to be sure and I devised a stupid experiment.

In India I learnt toilet paper is not really necessary -there's billions of people in Asia who do not use it. (There was this Israeli guy I met who asked the key question: if you found you had some shit on you forehead, how would you clean it?) Which method is best I'm not sure, regardless I got used to the other one in India, and in particular I didn't mind at all if I was sitting (as I always do) before my shower. However in Europe there's toilet paper and I use it (besides it's usually the jar which is missing). Some people find this whole subject is just digusting; that's not the point though. My experiment was: I would stop using paper if as usual I was in need just before my shower. Just to see what would happened.

What happened? The paper got finished and everything seemed fine for a few days. She was unemployed at that period (I was working like hell by the way), and I checked she went to the shop at least once to buy food. I don't know exactly how she was managing (I guessed she was using tissues). Finally, on Saturday mid morning, I realised I was having loose bellows and I went to the shop and I got the effing paper.

I would have talked to her if all the mess was about anything, not about a couple of euros. If I was not about to leave. And anyway my objective was to understand if she was as stingy as I had imagined. It seems she was.


This girl was taking short-term contracts very happily (the ones that others would take only because they cannot get a better one), so that at the end she could live from unemployment benefits for a while afterwards. She only looked for a new job when the time would come the state stopped paying. Which is not so bad, in my opinion, unless you make it a way of life. Unless you make it as if you are holding a day more waiting for your flatmate to get the paper (instead of you getting it).

There's hippies and hippies, there's the ones with the nice arrangements, and there's the stingy ones.

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.