The Babylonian Exodus
Russell Derrickson
11 March 2013
Several years ago, when I was younger and much less wise, I spent several years traveling across the country. I traveled, as many Americans did at that certain age, late-teens or early twenties. So many of us in fact, that there is an entire community, a miniaturized nation in and of itself, traveling the pot-holed highways of America. They are in every city, town and village, at rest tops, hotels, and camping grounds. They live in their vehicles, or the occasional hotel room; every so often they come to a town where another of their kind resides; attempting to transition back to the world of normal Americans, a world of taxes and 9-5 jobs those on the road refer to as Babylon.
When considering these people, it is best not to think in terms of the society that surrounds them. They will not fit into any category available to your vocabulary. Many would call us “hippies”, but that reference is dated at best and insultingly inaccurate at worst. The term :hippie” conjures images of long-haired, peace-loving, individuals partaking in entirely too much marijuana, and trying desperately to convince some girl that over-intoxication and not showering is cool and worthy of sexual desire. It appears as though that might have even worked back in the '60s.
This is not an accurate representation of the society as it finds itself today, nearly 50 years after a group of San Francisco folk musicians decided to see what would happen if they plugged in their instruments. To pretend that this culture does not have it's roots in the community of the '60s hippie movement would not be accurate either, but the culture has evolved far beyond those early days of simply getting high and listening to music; the rules have simply changed too much.
The rules have changed so much simply because there are rules out there now. I have been a part of this community for a little under 20 years, and I can remember the days when the rules were still evolving. I was not there for the beginnings, but as I was introduced, the community was only about 30 years old as a whole. They were just beginning to realize just what type of an animal had been created out of our mutual decision to leave the normal world in hopes for a happier life.
That was the key, some were in trouble with some law or another, just or unjust. Others just saw a chance to live a life with the freedoms we felt we had been promised as children and found lacking as we neared maturity (if any of us ever matured at all that is). There is always one place you could go and be free to be yourself: The Lot. The Lot can be anywhere, in any city or town, some back country farm, or even that parking lot beside your house, it is not a location, but a congregation.
The Lot is a place where the color of your skin did not matter. Yes, racial tensions are better now than when this all started and we even have a President of African-American descent, but to say that racial equality exists is to admit ignorance of the realities of the world. Here, homosexuals could find and openly share love with each other, women were on equal, if not slightly higher footing then men, and religious persecution is unheard of.
This utopian society is not all good, many dark elements have found their way into the mix as well. This is an entire nomadic community of outcasts. Most of us at one time lived in the normal world we refer to as Babylon at one point or another. Many of us go back there one day, as I have, in hope of a chance at redemption from the world that once cast us away.
The Lot majority consists of the type of counter-culture personalities that one would expect to see in the shamans and gurus of old. People who are undaunted by the journey to an alternate reality or state of mind. This comes in many forms, from yoga and meditation, to fasting and intoxication, and it is the last one that brings in so much of the bad name the community has been given over the decades.
The use of hallucinogenics, most notably LSD known as acid and hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psychocilliciban, are widely accepted and encouraged. This is not done in manner that is at all intended to be harmful to the recipient. It does not share kinship with the notion of a drug addict trying to hook a new fish, thus making it easier for the veteran to score whilst providing a mark for any potential scheme available in the pursuit of the next high. There is no harm intended at all with the experience of the hallucinations, commonly referred to as “tripping”. The intention is purely to open up another mind to the limitless possibilities of the world around them, to pull back the veil and show them a new world, or at least a new way of seeing the world.
As time has passed, people began to accept the new community they were creating as their home. The lust for possessions and homes began to dissipate. There still was a minimal amount of interaction with Babylon that was still required though. Food is made on the road, various kitchens are opened and other shops providing for the needs and wants of the people, but the basic materials are still required. There is still a need to purchase bread, butter, cloth, and most importantly gas. The entire community is nomadic by definition and as such require enough fuel to be capable of moving from location to location, a change that occurs almost nightly. The entire community makes ever evolving circles around the nation, avoiding the cold and searching for the music.
With such interactions, comes the need for a currency that will be accepted outside of the Lot, not something found in abundance in such a setting. Evolving from this need, the first rituals began to appear, from the juxtaposition of a group of people trying to leave society behind and yet being dependent on that same society for survival.
It became quickly apparent that the sale of substances generally considered to be illegal by the hosting nations, was the fastest and most profitable means of obtaining currency. This derives from the fact that it is a community based upon the idea of exploring alternate methods of experiencing reality. Being separated as much as is possible from the world and legal statutes around them just so happens to be an amazing place to open up a black market as well.
The majority of lingo, habits, and actions of this group have arisen from this relationship and of the requirement for some interaction between a group of outcasts living life in a way deemed unacceptable and illegal by the larger society around them, while still needing that society to survive. That society also needs the community of outcasts, as it has become a world devoid of such mentalities. There is no place for a shaman in the modern world of Google and globalization. However the need for a shaman still exists within humanity itself.
This situation becomes fairly difficult for all involved. To admit that you are a person who is searching for things that can only be experienced in an alternate mind state can be difficult. The risks are great: jail, banishment and humiliation to name a few. Those who have made this transition, live their life in constant fear of persecution, so much of the lingo is made up of code so as to not “fly the freak flag” to high to coin the phrase.
Here are some of the terms most one might find in The Lot:
The Lot: Originally a term for the parking lot of a concert, now expanded to take in the entirety of the community itself.
Shakedown Street: A path or specific area being utilized as an open air market.
Tripping: To be under the influence of a mind altering substance with the goal of experiencing other versions of reality.
6 Up!: Watch your back, police are present.
Pigs: Police
Blotter: A porous paper used to soak LSD in for distribution.
Thumbprint: Where a person places their thumb or other body part in contact with the original crystalline form of LSD, thus increasing potency and duration of the experience.
The Lot is one of the last places left for an individual who yearns to understand more of the world than is capable of being perceived by human senses alone. It is a refuge for the shamans of American culture, pushed to the side by the big clan chiefs of Babylon. The freedoms they have continued to preserve have enabled the continuation of the art, music and literature of our times, with known members such as Jerry Garcia, Andy Warhol, Jack Kerouac, and many others. It is the last home of those who would see the world differently and it needs to be preserved and understood, not persecuted and ridiculed.