Hinduism and the 1960s

The Rise of a Counter-Culture

Paul Oliver

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781472531551
• eBook ISBN: 9781472530783
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Hinduism

The West has drawn upon Hinduism on a wide scale, from hatha yoga and meditation techniques, to popular culture in music and fashion, yet the contribution of Hinduism to the counter-culture of the 1960s has not been analysed in full. Hinduism and the 1960s looks at the youth culture of the 1960s and early 1970s, and the way in which it was influenced by Hinduism and Indian culture. It examines the origins of the 1960s counter-culture in the Beat movement of the 1950s, and their interest in Eastern religion, notably Zen. When the Beatles visited India to study transcendental meditation, there was a rapid expansion in interest in Hinduism. Young people were already heading east on the so-called 'Hippie Trail', looking for spiritual enlightenment and an escape from the material lifestyle of the West. Paul Oliver examines the lifestyle which they adopted, from living in ashrams to experimenting with drugs, sexual liberation, ayurvedic medicine and yoga. This engaging book analyses the interaction between Hinduism and the West, and the way in which each affected the other. It demonstrates the ways in which contemporary Western society has learned from the ancient religion of Hinduism, and incorporated such teachings as yoga, meditation and a natural holistic lifestyle, into daily life. Each chapter contains a summary and further reading guidance, and a glossary is included at the end of the book, making this ideal reading for courses on Hinduism, Indian religions, and religion and popular culture.

PART ONE

The rise of a counter-culture

1

The intellectual roots of the 1960s counter-culture

Summary

This chapter analyses the ideas and philosophies which combined to help create the 1960s counter-culture. There is first an exploration of the concept ‘counter-culture’, and of how the latter term may be applied to social movements in the 1960s. This chapter continues with a discussion of the economic expansion of the period after the Second World War, and of the social opportunities created for young people. There is finally an evaluation of the beat generation writers such as Kerouac and Ginsberg, and the interest which they demonstrated in Eastern religions.

Introduction

In the autumn of 1960 it was the height of fashion for secondary school children to be seen carrying a well-known work of English literature. The novel concerned had a bright orange cover, and had been first published in an unexpurgated form by Penguin Books in August of that year. The book was Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence. Many considered the work too explicit in terms of sexual content, and the publishers found themselves the subject of a prosecution under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act. The trial, which received a great deal of publicity at the time, ended on 2nd November, with Penguin Books being found not guilty. With hindsight, the trial has been seen as making possible a much more liberal approach in the media and in publishing in particular. Many have taken it as a key moment at the start of a decade which would later epitomize a range of personal freedoms previously unknown.

Six days after the end of the Penguin Books trial, a young democratic senator from Massachusetts was elected as the new president of the United States. John F. Kennedy was inaugurated in January 1961 and initiated a domestic and social policy which among other things sought to eliminate racial discrimination and segregation, and to improve rights for women. Although he was not successful in his short administration in totally transforming society, his personal commitment to these issues did a great deal to set the tone for the coming decade. Many young people, however, would not be happy with the pace of change in terms of personal freedom, and throughout the decade, would engage in protest and opposition to the established political order.

Although Kennedy set out in his presidency to reform some aspects of American society, he also came to power at a time of major ideological differences between the West and the Soviet Union. There was enormous anxiety about the potential spread of communism, and the Castro administration in Cuba was seen as a particular threat to the United States. In April 1961 there was a failed attempt by the United States to destabilize the Castro regime, with the ‘Bay of Pigs’ invasion. Just over a year later the Soviet Union attempted to establish missile bases on Cuba, and although the confrontation was resolved in October 1962, it brought the world uncomfortably close to a nuclear conflict (Dobbs, 2009). There was also an increasing level of tension in Vietnam, and during 1961 American support for South Vietnam was gradually extended, leading ultimately to a full-scale American involvement in the Vietnam War. The risks to world peace seemed so significant at this time, that an extensive peace movement developed throughout the 1960s, particularly through the intervention of young people and students. Young people wanted autonomy and self-determination. They did not want to live in a world involved in major armed conflict.

Medical advances were also resulting in important social developments. In 1960 the oral contraceptive pill became available in the United States, and the following year in Great Britain. For the first time this provided women with an easily administered and relatively certain form of contraception, and gave them control over when they would have children. In terms of career planning, it enabled women to delay starting a family, and gave them the freedom to pursue education and training for longer. This in turn gave young women the opportunity to take a more active economic role in the family and in society.

Freedom was also an ambition for people on a national as well as an individual scale. Since the end of the Second World War, colonial countries had increasingly aspired to independence. In February 1960, the then British prime minister, Harold Macmillan gave a speech in South Africa in which he acknowledged the legitimacy of these aspirations. It became known as the ‘Wind of Change’ speech, indicating the political changes which were sweeping across Africa. A number of former British colonies in Africa subsequently gained their independence over a fairly short period of time, for example, Uganda in 1962 and Kenya a year later.

There was thus at the beginning of the 1960s an increasing demand for freedom, equality and autonomy in many areas of life. Where inequalities were deeply embedded within the existing social structure, as for example, with race and gender inequalities, the coming decade would see a concerted challenge to these existing cultural norms.

The nature of a counter-culture

Although social change began to become evident at the beginning of the 1960s, it was the result of gradual changes which had been happening throughout the 1950s. As in all wars, the Second World War had been a time of extensive interaction between different social groups and classes, nationalities and ethnic groups. In part this interaction resulted in a questioning of the accepted norms and conventions of society. While some people wanted to retain the existing conventions, others began to realize that they need not accept the received social structures and could seek to change society.

The term counter-culture tends to be used where a sub-culture evolves which is significantly different from conventional society in terms of values and patterns of behaviour. Such a counter-culture often exhibits an antipathy towards the established institutions of society. It could be argued that counter-cultures have existed since society has existed, since only through periodic challenges to the prevalent power structures, can society change (Goffman and Joy, 2005). Indeed one might further argue that it is part of the concept of a counter-culture that it seeks to subvert the existing society.

However, just as a society is a complex, multi-faceted organism, so too often is a counter-culture. The latter may not possess a single, dominant ideology. During the 1950s, as the American economy expanded, it resulted in an increasingly materialistic and technology-based society. Many young people of the developing counter-culture rejected this view of society (Roszak, 1995). However, although anti-materialism was a fairly pervasive perspective throughout the 1960s counter-culture, there were many other issues which were equally or even more important to some groups of young people.

Within a Marxist perspective one might assume that a counter-culture would be largely a working-class movement, opposing the perceived hegemony of bourgeois economic power. However, the 1960s was a period of relative economic affluence in the West, coupled with low unemployment. Many of the young members of the counter-culture of that time came from a middle-class background and had a number of different lifestyle choices at their disposal. However, they were often alienated from the values and culture of their parents, and sought to challenge the predominant paradigm of society.

In terms of discussing the counter-culture of the 1960s it is important to clarify not only the geographical extent of the phenomenon but also its temporal limits in terms of having a finite end point. Throughout this book, as we discuss the counter-culture in ‘the West’, we will define this as broadly signifying the United States and Europe, while at the same time acknowledging that its influence affected other parts of the world, including for example Australia and Canada. In addition, as we move on to discuss the relationship between the counter-culture and India, we will see that there has been a continuous cultural and religious interaction between the West and India since the eighteenth century.

As has been alluded to earlier a counter-culture is often political in nature, in that it seeks to transform society. Indeed it may well be radical and revolutionary in nature, in terms of rejecting gradual change in society and wanting rapid transformation. Such was the case in May 1968 in Paris when students protested on a large scale, wanting inter alia much more democratic control over the education system in France, with changes in both the pedagogy and curriculum in French universities. This particular facet of the broader counter-culture of the time had much in common with the movements in the United States and Britain, in that French students were opposed to the pervasive materialism of the West. Interestingly the students were joined in their protests by industrial workers in many parts of France (Ross, 2002). This combination of students protesting on the streets of Paris, and of large-scale strikes, nearly resulted in the fall of the government of President Charles de Gaulle.

Of course a cultural movement does not simply start and finish as a closed entity, unaffected by other factors. A counter-culture evolves from other movements and later evolves into new developments in society. It will almost certainly leave its mark on society, but essentially a counter-culture exists as part of a continuum, representing the continuing evolution of society. For this reason, it is not easy to establish a clear beginning and end for a counter-culture, and this certainly applies to the youth movement of the 1960s. It is useful, however, to establish some notional time limits, and to do this one could consider the beginning and end of a major political event of the period. One of the major targets of youth protest during the 1960s was the perceived lack of morality of the war in Vietnam. There were strong objections not only to the American involvement but also to the unethical methods employed such as the use of defoliants and napalm. The war could be approximately dated from 1960 to 1975. By late 1960, the National Liberation Front of North Vietnam (the Viet Cong) had determined to force American advisors from South Vietnam. Equally by 1961 President Kennedy felt that he had to stop communist expansion in Vietnam in order to affirm American authority in the world. The stage was thus set for the expansion of the conflict. It continued until April 1975, when the then American president Gerald Ford announced that the war was over. As the ending of the Vietnam War was such a major goal of young people, it is reasonable to take 1975 as a notional ending for the counter-culture, although this has to be seen as merely a convention.

There were, however, many other sources of protest for young people involved in the 1960s counter-culture. These included gay rights, gender equality, race equality, the peace movement, the environmental movement and civil rights. The at least partial achievement of some of the goals of the counter-culture in relation to these issues almost certainly influenced its gradual decline during the early 1970s. In addition, this decline was also almost certainly affected by the oil crisis of October 1973. The embargo created by middle-Eastern oil-producing countries had a negative effect on Western economies. This no doubt resulted in young people being more concerned with employment and the other practicalities of life than with the protest movement.

Factors leading to the creation of the 1960s counter-culture

The rise of a counter-culture during the 1960s was the result of a number of factors during the 1950s, economic and political, but also social and cultural. The immediate aftermath of the Second World War saw the beginnings of a major economic boom in the West, partly as a result of the need to rebuild the infrastructure of Western Europe. This economic boom was to last for approximately 30 years and would bring a standard of living for ordinary working people, which previous generations could have considered scarcely possible. The American Marshall Plan was conceived in order to help with the reconstruction of Europe and contributed many millions of dollars to this end. The Plan lasted from 1948 to 1952, and during this period the economies of Western Europe expanded rapidly.

The young people of the counter-culture were born either during the last few years of the Second World War or during the first decade after the end of the war. The latter period was one of considerable increase in the birth rate and became known as the ‘baby-boomer’ period (Feeney, 2012). The baby boomers, born as they were during a period of economic expansion, enjoyed a standard of living much better than children before the war. This generation benefited a great deal from large amounts of government money invested in education, and in Britain had unprecedented access to free higher education. The expansion of educational opportunities enabled working-class children to aspire to professional careers and well-paid jobs, even if in reality many were held back by other social factors outside their control. The Robbins Report of 1963 recommended that the number of universities should be rapidly increased and that access to a university education should be based upon merit.

Life did not, however, return to normal very quickly after the Second World War. Britain had suffered enormous damage to its infrastructure; there had been many casualties and the general population had suffered large-scale privation in many ways. This privation also continued to some extent after the war. Food rationing, for example, although gradually phased out in the years after the war, did not finally end until July 1954. As members of the armed forces returned from combat duties, there was considerable adjustment necessary when rejoining civilian life. There was not in the 1940s compared with now, the same awareness of, nor sensitivity to, the psychological damage induced by warfare. Two successive generations had now experienced war on a global scale, and there was among younger people an understandable desire to create a different kind of world. This challenge to received values was aided to a considerable degree by technological advances. The 1950s saw for the first time the widespread availability of television. Not only did this bring entertainment programmes, but perhaps more importantly for social change, it brought programmes which disseminated ideas and encouraged political debate. Current affairs programmes such as ‘Panorama’ in the United Kingdom and ‘See it Now’ in the United States were first broadcast in the 1950s. Such programmes exposed viewers to a multiplicity of different perspectives on the world and encouraged them to think critically about the society in which they lived. The first long-playing (LP) records became available in 1948. These records with multiple tracks helped the distribution of music of different genres and further aided an increasing cultural diversity in society.

Perhaps the most famous and iconoclastic of those who helped to re-shape the society of the 1950s were the so-called beat generation. The members of this informal group met initially in New York City and consisted of poets, writers and travellers who threw themselves into a style of life which was completely at odds with convention. Notable members included Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. The ‘beats’ became notorious for typically using a variety of different drugs and having non-conventional sexual relationships.

Jack Kerouac was born in 1922 in Massachusetts of French–Canadian parents and was able to speak and write in the form of the French language characteristic of Quebec. He was briefly a student at Columbia University in New York and later started writing. After the war he met Neal Cassady, a drop-out and inveterate traveller, and together they travelled extensively in both the United States and Mexico. These journeys became the subject of Kerouac’s book ‘On the Road’ which he wrote in 1951 (Kerouac, 2012). The celebrated manuscript of the novel consists of one long strip of paper nearly 40 metres long. Kerouac made this by taping together separate sheets, so that he could type without a break. It was difficult for Kerouac to find a publisher for ‘On the Road’ because it was written in such an unconventional style. However, it was eventually published in 1957.

‘On the Road’ made Kerouac very famous, and he was subsequently represented as the spiritual leader of the beat generation. However, he did not really consider himself as an unconventional character. He remained very serious about his Roman Catholic faith, and if anything thought of himself as a Catholic author. He died in October 1969 aged 47 years, from internal bleeding caused by excessive consumption of alcohol.

In terms of a literary philosophy, Kerouac was characterized by a spontaneity in his writing, which had parallels with the ‘stream of consciousness’ approach. The commitment to a philosophy of spontaneity led the beat writers to an interest in Zen, an affinity which we explore later in this chapter. In general terms the beats did not do a great deal to change institutional practice or legislation in relation to say drug acceptance or different forms of sexual relations. On the contrary, they lived their lives in an uninhibited style and acted as a model for future social change in the 1960s. By the late 1950s, the beat generation had helped to create the social movement known as the ‘beatniks’ which had a similar philosophical approach to life. The beatniks did not concern themselves greatly with using the political system to transform society. However, with the evolution of the beatniks into the hippie movement of the 1960s, there was a much stronger interest in the creation of socio-political movements and in an active political consciousness.

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) lived long enough to span both the beat generation and the hippie movement. He was born in New Jersey of a Jewish family. He attended Columbia University where he met Jack Kerouac and his friend William Burroughs. Ginsberg had an affinity with communism, and was given the pseudonym ‘Carlo Marx’ by Kerouac, in ‘On the Road’. Ginsberg’s poem ‘Howl’ was published in 1956 (Ginsberg, 2009). In many ways it is a personal account of the beat generation, its main characters and their beliefs. The poem, however, contains allusions to the use of drugs and to explicit sex and was the subject of an obscenity trial in 1957 which mirrored that of Lady Chatterley’s Lover three years later. As with the latter case, the publishers were found not guilty of publishing an obscene work. Ginsberg played a key role in the counter-culture of the 1960s. He was, for example, at the forefront of protests against the Vietnam War and was also a leading figure in the liberalization of laws against homosexuality.

William Burroughs (1914–1997) was a writer who worked in a variety of genres, and was a student at Harvard University in the 1930s. When he left university he visited Europe and immersed himself in the gay sub-culture of Austria. When he went back to the United States ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• PART ONE The rise of a counter-culture
• PART TWO Hinduism and the counter-culture
• PART THREE The legacy in contemporary lifestyle
• References
• Glossary
• Index
• Copyright