Social Earthquake
They traveled across the USA in cars, vans and colorful psychedelic buses. Drawn by the promise of a new social order, about 100,000 young people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco. It was the summer of 1967 and San Francisco became the epicenter of what some would call a social earthquake. “The Summer of Love” was a social phenomenon that helped initiate a major cultural and political shift in America. The eclectic gathering advocated for political and social change through music, drugs, creativity, and a total lack of sexual and social inhibition. A Time magazine cover story that summer was appropriately called, “The Hippies: Philosophy of a Subculture.” Communal living, free food and medical care, parties in the park, spontaneous concerts and anti-war demonstrations became the norm.
Scott McKenzie sang “San Francisco” which became an anthem for the summer and a call for people join the exodus.
“If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there
All across the nation such a strange vibration
People in motion
There’s a whole generation with a new explanation
People in motion”
Where’s the Love?
The local psychedelic newspaper, the San Francisco Oracle, wrote: “A revolution can be formed with a renaissance of compassion, awareness, and love, and the revelation of unity for all mankind.”
The changes in attitude and behavior expressed during the Summer of Love continue to reverberate and the aftershocks are still being felt in our modern society. However, the promises of a better world and unity for mankind have not materialized. I believe the reason for this lack of progress is fairly clear. The envisioned new society was not built on a solid foundation. No matter how noble the intentions, human effort alone simply could not get the job done.
The Hippies and their youthful followers are not that different from you and me. We all want and need love, but the real question is where will we find that love? To genuinely experience it, we have to able to love others and be willing to let them love us. My experience has shown that I can’t love very effectively left to my own devices. Here’s what I mean. When I have a deeper understanding of how much God loves me, it increases my capacity to love. He is my “love mentor” and he’s also the “love reservoir” I draw from.
Get Together
The people who came to San Francisco were on a quest. This generation believed their lives should be more fulfilling than the lives their parents were living. It seems their motivation was more personal than it was political. The problem is that no amount of political change can fill a personal, spiritual void. It’s interesting they did recognize that the best way to achieve a new social order was the way of love expressed through meaningful relationships.
“Get Together” by the Youngbloods was a song about our personal responsibility to help shape a better world.
“If you hear the song I sing, you will understand
Listen…
You hold the key to love and fear all in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both it’s there at your command
Come on people now smile on your brother
Everybody get together try to love one another right now”
All You Need is Love
The defining moment for the Summer of Love came on June 27 when an estimated 400 million people across five continents watched “Our World,” the first live international satellite broadcast. The historic two and one-half hour program was closed by The Beatles who performed live and sang a new song. The Fab Four were asked to create a song that contained a simple message that could be understood by all nationalities. John Lennon responded with, “All You Need is Love.”
“Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need”
George Harrison later described the song as, “A subtle bit of PR for God.” The song resonated with millions back in 1967 and it still does today. John, the Beatle, communicated a message of love that’s timeless. John, the Apostle made the truth even more clear when he wrote: “Dear friends, let’s continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God…God is love.”
Turned On or Turned Off?
The Summer of Love had some positive attributes to be sure, but there was a darker side. The use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD was common and so was the practice of so-called free love. Both LSD and sleeping around have been shown to be harmful and potentially fatal. I’m not here to bash the Summer of Love, but we do need to keep it real. We can celebrate what was good and learn from what went wrong.
George Harrison visited Haight-Ashbury in August. After walking around and interacting with some of the people he made a few observations.
“I went there expecting it to be a brilliant place, with groovy gypsy people making works of art and paintings and carvings in little workshops. But it was full of horrible spotty dropout kids on drugs, and it turned me right off the whole scene… That was the turning point for me—that’s when I went right off the whole drug cult and stopped taking the dreaded lysergic acid.”
How’s Your Love Life?
Looking back it now seems so clear. The folks who organized the Sumer of Love planned for the in-flux of people, set up a free health clinic, got volunteers to distribute food and even tried to provide housing. But they overlooked one very important detail. They staged an historic gathering focused on love, but neglected to invite the foremost authority on love and relationships in the universe—God. Love is his idea. Love is one of the defining qualities of his character. Yet no one thought to involve him or ask for his help. Wow, that’s just crazy. I think we can safely chalk that one up to lessons learned in the past 50 years.
Imagine how different the results could have been. That summer held the potential to be a time of personal and spiritual transformation. When people get transformed, the world gets transformed. Instead of transformation we saw changes in music, culture and social behaviors, but not much more.
What can we learn from this social experiment? If you’re like me, you sometimes face challenges in expressing and receiving love. Life and love are both meant to be shared. That’s the way God designed things. When you need help with your “love life” take time to connect with God first. Knowing that he loves you deeply will help you learn to love yourself. Only then can you reach out to love others. God knows what you’re going through and wants to help. He’s waiting to be invited to your Summer of Love.
Copyright 2014 John H Briggs
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