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THERE HAVE ALWAYS been disaffected, alienated people and certainly the most lively of these have been late adolescents and young adults. Blame for alienation has often been placed upon industrial, capitalistic society. While this may be so, it seems more likely that a capitalistic, industrial [read affluent ] society allows more people to be freed of grinding poverty and fatigue, and therefore makes thinkable the question, "What am I doing here?"
To be turned on is to live in the present—the now. It is to be aware of one's self (including one's body) at a particular moment and be ready to experience the next moment in its pain, sorrow, joy, love, or anger. Maturity is irrelevant; change is continuous; limits are limitless; interpersonal relationships are transient. You get what you need where it is to be found from drugs, contrived groups, chance encounters, music, dancing, body contact, nature, group bathing and massage—anything.
The now generation has members of all ages—even up to seventy—but primarily consists of the young. They spurn individual psychotherapy as an outgrowth of an old-fashioned individualistic age and want group contact, but without commitment for very long. The commitment seems to be more to the turned-on state than to a person or family unit.