The Hippie religion (sometimes referred to as a philosophy)

Wiki Answers: What religion do hippies believe in?

"So the hippies were people who were looking for something else than what the society proposed them in terms of spirituality. They went to look in the already established religions all around the world and together they created a movement that is called New-Age, and that is including the philosophies of every religion, as well as many current thoughts that are not considered religions; stuff like ecology, pacifism, humanism, etc."

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Stephen Gaskin, an internationally renowned hippie icon, lists his religion as "Hippie." (ref.) He once said: "I believe that energy's the Holy Spirit, I believe that it's the body and blood of Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, and anybody along that line. We're a dance of energy, arranged and held in the mind of God."

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Skip Stone is the creator and webmaster of an interactive hippie website called "Hippyland." It has over 225,000 registered members. On the Hippyland website where is a link to a free on-line book by Mr. Stone. Its title is "Hippies from A to Z." A chapter in it is titled Hippy Philosophy and the Hippy Dream.

In this chapter Skip Stone wrote:

"Freedom is shedding those false needs and finding one's true place in the greater scheme. Understanding the interdependence of life is seeing beyond the material illusion (Maya) and witnessing the dance of energy that is the true nature of the universe. This is called enlightenment. Hippies seek enlightenment in various ways. Drugs provide but a fleeting glimpse of the true nature of reality. We know that before you can change the world, you must change yourself and find peace within. Yoga and meditation bring us this inner peace and help us to act in balance with our surroundings. Eastern mysticism from Ashtanga Yoga to Zen Buddhism provide us with various paths to enlightenment."

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Be Here Now is the title of a book written by the yogi and spiritual teacher Ram Dass. It is a book about the hippie counterculture's mostly Eastern religions and indigenous tribal people's eco-spirituality based, syncretistic blend of the world's religions, a new world religion. The book has been described as the "counterculture's bible." More than 2 million copies were sold and it helped engender the New Age movement, including the hippie religious or philosophical expression of it. The first section of the book inspired the lyrics to George Harrison's song "Be Here Now".

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