Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia with his tongue in cheek. He was fantasizing when he described his perfect island where everything was ideal. The very name Utopia means "no place" — the non-existent land of man's dreams. But to the turned on generation of the 60s, the dream of utopia was not just a fantasy. The expanded consciousness of an entire generation said, "… it must be possible." No more living in the status quo. No more thought of becoming like "The Establishment" — you know: don't make waves, punch in for eight hours a day for forty years, then retire, receive a gold watch, and die five years later. What had been learned from parents, from the past, from history itself was no longer a guiding light for the future.

Thomas More's vision of Utopia was just an elusive dream … but beginning with the Summer of Love, the elusive dream of all time was coming into view, about to be taken in hand. The flower children of the 60s weren't looking for an island like More's 16th-century dream, but a place more tangible, a real promised land … California … San Francisco, across the Golden Gate to the world of Haight-Ashbury! Do you remember what magic these two words held in our minds?! A society of free young spirits founded on love, peace, liberty, and equality!

Thousands grabbed their bedrolls, backpacks, or sleeping bags and left home to find this Promised Land. Their 20th-century exodus had begun. Their prophets were Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Alan Ginsburg, Bob Dylan and the like… but it was the message of Leary that gave fuel to the exodus, even for those who didn't go west. His message was, "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" no matter where you are.

The Haight was the model for many such places across the land. When the young pilgrims arrived, they were accepted. No one asked any questions. No one made any demands. No one was watching. No one had to prove anything. People were just themselves, and everyone was happy. Utopia had finally begun! You could come and go as you pleased. You could wear what you pleased. There were no deadlines, no grades, no projects, no points to score. No one cared about money; no one was trying to impress; material things didn't matter. Only people mattered. Easy alliances were formed. No demands! Old taboos were ignored, barriers knocked down and spirits were high. No one was killing anybody, and people were beautiful.

Coming together took on new meaning in June of 1967, in Monterey, California, where the first rock festival was born. It was like the birth of a new nation, a harbinger that produced other festivals like Woodstock, the Isle of Wight, Altamont, Atlanta, and countless others! At these festivals you could sense what seemed to be the endless love and togetherness that had to be possible. A revolution of love was beginning. You could feel it everywhere. The world would never be the same. We were determined to make this hope, this life last forever.

Joan Baez called it togetherness, and she was right. Since the beginning of time, people in every society have been looking for that bond that would make them one, desiring an end to the estrangement and hostility that runs so deep in the human soul. Wouldn't the toughest nut crack under the right pressure and the hardest heart yield to love, understanding, and a little kindness? Surely by living together love would bring about the togetherness she sang about, thus realizing the elusive dream.

But things started getting crazy as more and more people came to psychedelic Meccas like San Francisco. The good vibes produced by orange sunshine began to give way to paranoia and an increased fear of the Man. Exploitation by the media, the violence at the anti-war demonstrations, and the pain of broken hearts that the best peyote couldn't heal introduced the seeds of disillusionment.

Old-fashioned greed began to show its ugly head as the beautiful people began to insist on their rights and want their own space. When heroin and speed moved into psychedelic Meccas like the Haight, drug busts began and Utopia began to sink in a pool of blood. The peace we thought we had slipped away like an elusive dream.

Suddenly Utopia had a cost, and who was willing, much less able to pay it? As the highs went away and our experiments with community failed, some began to realize that love is not free. We wanted to conquer the world with love and bring the healing balm of peace to this earth, but there was no foundation of self-sacrifice in our lives that would turn our vision into a lasting demonstration.

Some people turned to Jesus in the search for this foundation of love. But the prophets of Christianity couldn't deliver the life. When you turned on the TV and heard Christian preachers talking about how mankind should live, it was something you knew they knew nothing about. Man living with man the way God intended is what they promised, but you knew you were not going to get it because they didn't have it either. How can their Jesus save others when he can't save them? And if they're saved, who wants that salvation? They were the epitome of all that we detested. They were the very cause of our rebellion. Their failure to produce the utopia they spoke of is what drove us to Haight-Ashbury in the first place!

What was needed was good authority to make the elusive dream a reality! Leaders were needed who could lead by their example and who wouldn't compromise. The flower children hated authority because the authority they observed growing up was filled with hypocrisy, prejudice, and glory-seeking.

The thought of man living with his fellow man as God intended him to is what we were looking for. But how to find it? That was the elusive dream then and it is the elusive dream now. Even now, the question still remains … what is the real cost of a life of love? Since the 60s, the "Woodstock Nation" has scattered and most of the individuals have quit searching for a life together. The children of the 60s have struck out on a quest for individual spirituality, rejecting the need for the true Source, willing to settle for just about any myth that could give their personal life meaning. Eric Utne, editor of the popular alternative magazine, Utne Reader, and himself a child of the 60s describes it this way:

For the last 25 years I've explored all manner of spiritual approaches — Eastern and Western, modern and traditional. Spirituality and its relationship to politics, education, the arts, and other aspects of life continues to interest me more than almost anything else.

This is what the Woodstock Nation has degenerated into. It is nothing more than the quest for a personal, mystical experience for the improvement or attainment of self. This is nothing more than what Christianity offered all along, it's just packaged differently for the new age orientation of 60s children. Renowned journalist Bill Moyers realized this quest for personal spirituality when he announced in 1991 that in his view "the spiritual quest of America is the story of the next 50 years":

I've given up the beat of politics. I've given up the beat of international affairs, because … this [quest for spirituality] is the biggest story of the millennium.[1]

Empowering yourself to overcome your 'imperfectability' and thus attain to a personal higher spiritual life is the gospel of the New Age philosophies as well as the gospel of Christianity. But what other choices are there?

For almost six thousand years, the answer has been the same. The real path to personal spirituality is simple … obey your conscience. The conscience is the spiritual voice inside that will always lead you to treat others the way you want to be treated. It is the connection between you and God, that bonds you in the everlasting covenant. All men, regardless of race or religion, are in this covenant with God and must give an account at the judgment for his deeds, for how he kept or broke the covenant. But conscience only has the power to preserve what is left of the image of God in a person. It cannot heal or perfect him.

To get back to the Garden, the only place the elusive dream can be realized, you first have to go back and face all the ways you hurt people by going past your conscience and breaking the everlasting covenant. Then you have to have a new life, a whole new existence brought about through forgiveness. The cost on your part is humbling yourself, admitting you are guilty, you are the problem, and surrendering your life entirely to the greater king, Yahshua. It must come through the regeneration of your human spirit (the only true Renaissance), a rebirth into a Twelve-Tribed Nation that is now being formed. The true Movement is dawning in this tribal people. The elusive dream will only be realized through those who put their trust in the Dreamer and follow him wherever he goes.