Hi! I'm writing a paper in school about The Rainbow Family, and I'm trying to get some personal views of it, not just plain old facts. I was wondering if anyone could please answer these few questions. I would be very grateful! /Peter · Where did you first hear of the rainbow Family of living light? · How much have you changed since your first Rainbow Gathering? · How did you view life before and after your first Gathering? · How do you spread Love and Peace? · What is your favourite thing to do at a gathering? +anything else you would like to add.
I just saw your post and hope it's not too late to help with your paper. Unfortunately it looks as though nobody else has really posted. That's too bad. I first heard about Rainbow when I lives in Pittsburgh from a friend who was going to the national in Allegheny Nat. Forest in PA. Going to my first gathering completely changed my outlook on life. It gave me hope that the world wasn't all bad. That there are actually many wonderful spirits out there. And they are doing their part to make the world a little bit better. I have since cut off my dreads and conformed slightly, but the spirit remains in me. I am spreading peace and love by teaching my daughter, Harmony, the same values that I have learned. That all life is precious and of value and deserves respect and compassion, that anger or violence is never the solution to any problem, and to give love to all people unconditionally even if they hate you. Oh, I also stopped wearing underwear after my first Gathering. hope this helps a little. I'm not sure why nobody else posted to help. I guess they forgot that helping others is part the Rainbow way.
Where did you first hear of the rainbow Family of living light? I believe I first heard of it from mainsteam television news; it must have been in the mid 1980s because it was a national being held in Texas. I recall thinking "wow those people are really weird, but they're probably really nice folks..." I remember that I wanted to attend one, but ... oddly enough, it was more important to believe that "there's an almost-utopia out there, if only temporary" but ... I sorta did NOT want to attend one, because I feared that it would turn out like everything else in life- much less than it appears at first glance. In 1993, we met some local family and attended a council at OM Valley, and I was moved almost to tears by the wonderful folks we met. It was small, maybe 20 people, and it seems that the smaller the gathering, the better it is overall. How much have you changed since your first Rainbow Gathering? Not all that much. I still live a very mainstream lifestyle. However, just knowing that there are MANY people out there living other ways, it... helps somehow. I only attended one national gathering, and I think about it... well, not quite every day, but I'm sure that never does a week pass that I don't remember it fondly. I have no faith in societal institutions, but I think I now have more belief in the courage of individuals. How did you view life before and after your first Gathering? For me, the largest single change is that it gave me a better view of humans and the tolerance we're capable of. I saw a few "assholes" at the national I attended. It fascinated me when I saw that when treated with family-like kindness, they relaxed, felt welcomed rather than adversarial, and were very soon non-assholes. How do you spread Love and Peace? I'm not sure you can, really... we all can be manipulated by the expert forces of mainstream media, if we allow ourselves to be exposed to it. It's happened to me. What is your favourite thing to do at a gathering? Talk. Listen. Listen. Listen. And then listen some more. Yeah, you hear some absolutely ridiculous ideas based on "facts" that aren't even factual, all that. But I also heard a lot of poetic beauty that's truthful on a deeper level, if that makes any sense. For instance, the belief that "things happen for a reason." It simply makes no sense. But if you believe that, you can make something good come from something that would otherwise simply be all bad, and give it "reason" after the fact. What human trait could be more important than that? Good luck on the paper!
Thank you all so very much for your efforts. It was very helpful! I'm about to finish my paper right now, and with these personal views of the Rainbow Family, I think I will get very good grades! Thanks to you all and Peace!
