Now, segment B pertains to: TECHNOLOGY & THE FUTURE OF THE RAINBOW GATHERINGS
I was running MEI kitchen at the Shawnee gathering feeding a steady crowd near main circle, when
a brother come up and announced that I had to get rid of my propane stove.
His reasoning was, "as I understand it, this is sposed to be some kinda back-to-nature trip"
A "back-to-nature trip" HMMMN, is that anything like having a "vision"?
Now, I'm even more willing to listen to the next guy's opinion than the next guy, but can somebody
tell me exactly when it was that we consensed that, from now on, this was going to be a "back to
nature gathering"? OF course, I can easily understand how anybody might walk into their first
gathering, see a bunch of people living in the woods, and conclude that this is obviously some kind
of grass roots oregonization. logical
Now, let's talk concensus. As MY understanding goes (courtesy of Steve)...
At the VERY FIRST GATHERING, a group of folks dressed ALL IN WHITE arrived and approached main
circle to announce that this was a HOLY EVENT, and that any animal products would NOT BE TOLERATED
therefore everyone was going to have to throw all their leather belts,shoes,etc. INTO THE FIRE,
RIGHT NOW or they were all going to LEAVE! Well,consensus was basically, that if somebody didn't
like things the way they were, that was their PERSONAL PROBLEM and, as far as we were concerned,
they could do whatever the hell they wanted.! And the rest is HIS STORY. They were never heard
from again.
Now, I'm no chemistry major, but I know that my little propane stove creates less hazardous
fumes and is FAR MORE FUEL EFFICIENT than these MASSIVE THREE TREE FIRES you see all over the
gathering.(Honestly,I would much rather be using Hydrogen anyway's) Boogie Meadow is generally
the biggest abuser. side note: at this year's gathering, A brother stood up in council and
inquired, "isn't there going to be a Boogie Meadow?" The stone cold
pregnant pause told the story, you could see it in everyones faces, now, I'm a romantic too, I
like a big fire on a chilly night with every drum in the meadow jamming full blast and everybody
dancing their asses off in full communion,like you do, and anyone in Babylon would if they would
only re-remember. But it was all there, we had quitely concensed that this is one tradition that
can often get out of hand fuel-wise. Any memories of those beautiful late nite Boogie sessions
must include that image of those half dozen or so muscular shadows dragging whole trees out of the
woods.....
NOW, you tell me who in their right mind is going to tell any brother that he can't bring his
nifty little solar stove to the gathering because it's too TECHNOLOGICAL?! let that soak in for
a sec.......
Not just back to nature now wer'e talkin caves and stones.
The purpose of the gathering, from my angle, is along these lines...
though a respect for the creator is our common goal, our methods of attaining that goal are as
different as the colors of the spectrum. we should not seek to enforce our beliefs on others or
try to get them to see it "our way". each of us may find elements of what the future may be by
drawing upon past knowledge. each of us may freely try to share these elements with others.
some elements don't mix, most do in varying quantities. the goal, is not to try to revert back to
some anchient perfect knowledge, but to combine as many aspects as you can into a form of NEW
KNOWLEDGE which is greator than the sum total of all it's parts.
IN short, I think ignoring our technologies could be our shortcoming. How else do we test water
for contaminants and then take action to reduce those contaminants etc... I could go on & on
(sorry if I did)
anyways there is no in conclusion. I think I'll check out for now.If anyone opts for replying to
the bitch line please don't expect me to bitch back. (nobody really listens to you when you bitch
anyways)
Oh yeah, one more thing, I have a new slogan for the gathering:
IF IGNORANCE IS BLISS, THIS PLACE MUST BE NIRVANA!