by Catherine Haug
Back in the 60s, when “hippies” claimed the streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood (and similar neighborhoods of cities across our nation), or went “back to the earth” to live on rural farming communes, the sociological idea of “counterculture” entered our lexicon.
Counterculture was distinguished from the “Beat or ‘Bohemian’ subculture that preceded it in the 40s & 50s (exemplified by writers like Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs). Reacting to the materialistic, conformist America they saw developing in the 1940’s, the Beats experienced a spiritual yearning that expressed itself in poetry, prose, and song. Their main goal was to push the boundaries of their contemporary mainstream society, as it emerged from the aftermath of the two World Wars.
In the 60s, youths in the Bohemian Movement wanted to do more than “push boundaries” of the older generation from within, they wanted to separate from the older generation entirely, forming new boundaries and a new culture. The Counterculture was born.
ESP was formed, at least in part, from this counterculture. Our interest in the “Essentials” of life and living comes from the counterculture’s awareness of our human link to our planet earth, its overall health and well-being.
However, this little bit of history is not entirely what I mean by “counter culture.”
Counter Culture: the Blog
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