The author, whose particular expertise is in the field of the psychology of the aging, has drawn some remarkable parallels between the characteristics of the young people of today's counterculture and those of the old men of traditional societies. The aged, faced with the dread reality of oncoming death, attempt to achieve oneness with the universe through blurring of ego boundaries and magical mastery; the young, unable to accept their narcissistic limitations, do the same. Similarities between the two groups are seen in terms of antiaggressive, antiproductive attitudes, diffuse sensuality, unisexual orientation, reliance on illusions, and vague religiosity. Grave concern is expressed about the danger of a philosophy of ego diffusion during the pivotal period of adolescence when identity consolidation must occur. The future may thus become irrevocably compromised and foreclosed, with the young developing the disgust and despair that Erikson has described as the lethal stage of aging at the end of life.