Gridley's Philosophy

Gridley Wright embraced the social upheaval of the 1960s. In 1966, he dropped out of mainstream society and never looked back. His hippie philosophy is captured in a 1967 interview in the Southern California Oracle, and in Lewis Yablonsky's 1968 book, The Hippie Trip. In these in-depth, lengthy interviews, Gridley lays out his philosophy and that of the psychedelic 60s.

After his release from prision in 1969, Gridley traveled through India, where he became very influenced by Eastern religion. He ended up in Bali in 1971. This interview with Keith Lorenz and David Salisbury captures Gridley's thoughts on eradicating the ego, drug use, and relating to time and space as we did when we were children. He refines these ideas in his 1977 book, The Book of the Mother.

On Communal Living

Throughout the 60s and 70s, Gridley experimented with communal living. He saw change as an evolutionary process. He viewed communal living as means to accelerate change. Gridley believed that reality is a projection of yourself. "Everything outside of yourself and the range of the organisms consciousness doesn't exist. It's an abstraction, a fantasy, so you tune in on yourself and you tune in on the world."

On Protests of the 60s

Gridley did not set much store in the protests of the 60s against injustice and police brutality. "People who get hung up in protests are looking outside of themselves for things to change. You don't change the world, you change yourself."

On the Hippie Movement

Gridley strongly identified with the hippie movement. "The hippie movement is the most far out, unique revolutionary thing to happen in the history of the species." However, Gridley disliked associating the Flower Child epithet to the hippie movement. "All that says is hate is bad and that is a lie. There has never been a man who did not have hostile feelings." Gridley maintained that hostility is not the same as violence. You can express hostility without violence.

On the Potential for Enlightenment

Acceptance of others is a recurrent theme throughout Gridley‘s philosophy. "Change people by opening them up to a new dimension of reality. Everyone has the potential for enlightenment if you are open to them. Accept the other person's reality if you are going to communicate with them; otherwise, you are just playing a word game."

On Departing California

Gridley was unable to realize his community in California so he split to the east, traveling through India, New Zealand, and Austrailia before reaching Bali.

Hear Gridley discuss his reasons for leaving California in his 1971 interview in Bali.

In 1971, when Gridley Wright lived on Kuta Beach, Bali had two coffee shops and very little western style tourism. Over the last 31 years, life in Bali has changed dramatically. The October 12th nightclub bombings are another tragic episode of violence in our world.
Gridley acknowledged that all of us experience hate. "There has never been a man who did not have hostile feelings." However, Gridley maintained that hostility is not the same as violence. We should work to express hostility without violence.
-- Chris Lorenz
Read Chris' complete commentary

The Tao is to be found in the silence remaining after the departure of your memory and expectations.

-- Gridley Wright