I have friends, usually a bit New Age, who are always “finding” themselves. They show great amazement at their new discoveries. I, on the other hand, remember that they made the same discovery five years ago and ten years ago.
Thanks to Google and blogging, I can avoid the problem. When a wonderful new idea arrives I can Google my own site to see if I have written about the subject before. On this subject I have. It is a recurrent theme: Why did the hippies disappear?
I formerly cited one reason as the rambunctious uncontrollable and socially destructive forces of sexual license (which I personally enjoyed during the hippie era … to the max.)
Sexual license is what led the hippie leadership to act as alpha males charging at each other, reeking havoc and (unlike many other species) driving away other supporting male actors and many of the females as well.
My current additional insight is that the hippy disregard and distaste for strong institutions (such as corporations and military academies) and support for pathetic ones like Spirituality and pacifism made sure that sexual energy was socially destructive.
Ie: a naval officer is much less likely to risk the success of his carrier group with a sexual romp than would be a popular self-help guru.