Messenger From the Summer of Love

For many, the Summer of Love was a time when hippies ruled supreme in their Day-Glo attire, when psychedelic acid tests replaced cocktail parties, brotherly love replaced prejudice, freedom replaced conformity, and sharing replaced greed. It was a time to change the rules, to experiment with novel living arrangements, open relationships and of course powerful mind-expanding drugs.

For others, like David Echt, the Summer of Love presented a unique opportunity for a grand leap in personal and human evolution. It was a special time when the cosmic energy was right, and people with newly opened minds could decide our collective future. One could choose to either work within through meditation and yoga, or work out in the world, expressing their karma through positive action and service to others.

In his book, Echt seeks the deeper meaning of that special summer and reminds us of how much we grew as individuals and a group through those extraordinary experiences afforded us in the late 60s. Through the use of psychedelic drugs and by exploring eastern philosophies, we learned new ways of looking at life that made more sense than what we'd been taught by parents and school. We discovered our common ground and a deep unity and brotherhood. Could this timely enlightenment save humanity and the world from destruction at a time when our species' fate could be decided with the press of a button?

The story follows the life of Trevor, an open-minded twenty year old from L.A as he seeks answers to life's important questions during the summer of '67. Leaving a failing relationship, he casts his fate to the wind and finds signposts guiding him towards his true path, which takes him to the Monterey Pop Festival, then Haight-Ashbury where he meets the Messenger. The Messenger arrives just in time to help him and others sort out their novel experiences, for which our western society has no reference, placing them in a spiritual context that gives them tremendous meaning.

Like many during that period in history, what we sought, and what we found were two different things. We sought our individuality, and we found our humanity. We sought an end to war, and discovered how important it was to find peace within. We sought free, carnal love, and found a transcendent universal love. We tried to stay high on drugs, only to discover the natural high. We needed to express ourselves and we unleashed a profound artistic creativity. We sought personal freedom and started a social revolution.

It's taken over 30 years for many of us to reassess those years and see the events of the past in a positive light. David Echt, has done justice to that time and after reading this book, I for one have a renewed sense of meaning and purpose. Let's pick up where we left off, and help those generations that followed us to discover the truth; We can still make a difference, we can still change the world.