Declaration of Interdependence and Mini Manual

The facts and my feelings that I post here are not to judge or complain. I am posting this to add to the teaching of old and new family alike, to create healthy conversation and focus, to remind us all of a few important details of Traditions and Values we may have forgotten along the way and to discuss a few problems at our gatherings so please no hateful responses. I Love You!

I love being new here. Well about 1 year new. I’m finding all kinds of things that, in the past year I haven’t seen discussed on the forum. I found a couple of very important documents, and details in those documents that more family, old and new need to be aware of and/or be reminded of, our Declaration of Interdependence and our Mini Manual Rainbow Guide.
With the problems I see being discussed and not being discussed in this forum, I feel we need to look back at these documents for guidance as some of us, maybe unaware, are clearly not teaching what is written, as it is written.
I’m sure that a lot of family here have no idea a Declaration of Interdependence exists, but we all need to be aware of what family consensed almost 31 years ago. Passages from that document can be found at http://rainbowguide.info
I would like to know where I can find the complete Declaration of Interdependence. All I have found is “Some passages” from the 1977 document. If anyone knows where to find the complete version please leave a link, PM or email me. Thank You.
First, for the record it’s not ALL PEOPLE with a bellybutton that are welcome, but any “NON VIOLENT PERSON” with a bellybutton ( page 1 in the Mini Manual ) that is welcome. I have heard it said too many times all people are welcome and that’s not correct. Violent people are just not, and should not be welcome, period.
I feel that with the upcoming collapse of the economic system, the recent collapse of our housing market and the price gouging of oil and gas here in the U.S.A. we need to be reminded of our purpose, Traditions and Values now more than ever and get closer to the Declaration and Manual/Guide for I feel we will building more intentional villages and be spending much more time together in the forest for survival. The more we know and understand the better we can teach the Traditions and Values of Rainbow.
Lets face it, a lot of our youth and adults alike think of and treat our gatherings as not much more than a party in the forest, just look at Ocala for instance. Granted there will always be those that attend for the right and wrong reasons but more are NOT showing up for the right reasons because of the general party atmosphere, we need those elders back. Not all people can mentally handle what we see happen in the woods at our gatherings and should not have to be exposed to it. In turn we lose valued family members and elders that were there to help teach all of us, and WE can and need to change that. If new family are allowed to believe that this is what we are about, that these are our Traditions and Values, then we are failing them, ourselves, our Traditions and Values. We can get peoples attention, keep that attention and teach our Traditions and Values of Love, Peace, Self Reliance and Self Responsibility to many more people online here than just in the woods where there are many distractions. What I’m saying is this is the place to start teaching. This is where people wanting to know more and are curious seem to come to first. We also need more local “potlucks” to introduce and to teach our Values and Traditions to the people in our communities wanting to know more about the family.
More constructive threads are needed here as we have such a large amount of people young and old wanting to learn more about Rainbow here on this site and it is our responsibility to teach the right stuff, otherwise those folks we teach the wrong things, that they think are right, continue on to teach wrong to many more. Some of what has been taught to me in the past year I’m finding wasn’t quite right.
Peoples attitudes, values and ideals have changed a lot in the past 30 years. We all have been allowed to be exposed to more negative things than any generation ever has. Most have been programmed and desensitized to accept violence and hate through a lack of God or faith in a higher power of some kind, and a total lack family values. Video games, television, violent rap music, newspapers and Hollywood have had a huge negative influence on the kids with ultra liberal Hollywood which includes the music industry and the liberal bias media, who control and influence what we see, hear and believe being the worst culprits. Parents just accept this as how it is and how it’s going to be and have complacently let their children experience this. Parents have enforced this negativity and violent attitudes by purchasing and allowing their kids to play violent video games and allowing them to view movies, TV shows and listen to violent music with clearly unacceptable content.
People young and old that are looking for something different, something good and something better are coming to us to learn new Values and Traditions. The young and old that have not grown up with the Rainbow Values in their home and life now want to be deprogrammed and taught Traditions and the Values of Love and Peace, Self reliance and Self Responsibility and it’s our job to do that. This is a tall order and we as a family are responsible for making this happen, and can.
The ABUSE of ALCOHOL is a major problem at our family gatherings, not A-camp or the USE of alcohol, but the general abuse. This is nothing new. In the Mini Manual it says “ What you use is your business. What you abuse is EVERYONES business. It has long been a tradition in our family to discourage the use of alcohol at gatherings. Alcohol energy can easily threaten. We respect a persons right to drink. We DO NOT RESPECT DIFFICULT DRUNKS. The primary reason we gather is for PEACE.”
A-camp can help end the abuse this by teaching this Tradition, teaching self control by discouraging this abuse and asking abusers to leave and come back when they have learned self control. We are all Shanti Sena, this includes responsible members of A-camp. Remember it’s not ALL PEOPLE with a bellybutton that are welcome, but any NON VIOLENT PERSON with a bellybutton that is welcome and anytime alcohol use induces violence of any kind, it’s being abused and in turn we as family are being abused as well.
Stealing is another problem we are facing. In my eyes I see theft as a violent act. It hurts mentally and emotionally and therefore people that steal are violent. They need to be found and asked to leave. In our Traditions and Values we are a non materialistic family and share all we have with each other. But we do have some personal things. What few personal possessions we do have we have either labored for or made with our own hands. I firmly suggest everyone leave valuable things at home. Find a trustworthy friend to store them or simply store them at the Greyhound bus station lockers that I believe still exist. Some of us need to bring items and crafts for the trade circle and have to store them in their camps. The trade circle is where we trade for things we either need not purchase or for one reason or other, or don’t have the money to buy. We all need to help keep an eye on each others camps. Theft equals violence, period.
Dogs are another issue that affects not only our Peace but our health too. By bringing your dog to a gathering and not being responsible by letting him or her run loose and not cleaning up after it you are, by your actions allowing harm to come to living beings. Dogs fight and dogs poop. We all know what happens when dogs fight. When dogs poop and its not buried flies land on and eat the poop. The flies then go to our bodies, eating and cooking utensils and kitchen food with the poop and then the food comes to us with traces of poop in and on it. Be responsible, don’t make us all sick. My dog is my fur child. I live on the road and he is my travel partner and best friend and I will never leave him with anyone so I can go somewhere, so he will be with me this year. I will be responsible and not let him run loose to harm or be harmed and I clean up after him, always. I will bring lots of rope if I can, and secure loose dogs, all I can catch while I’m there so if you don’t want your dog tied to a shade tree somewhere in the woods, do it yourself at your camp please. I will do what is necessary to protect my fur child from loose unattended dogs. I will carry a can of humane animal pepper spray (weaker than sold for human to human protection) for my protection and the protection of my 4lb fur child from being attacked. I wish I didn’t have to do this but I see no other way until people change and I won’t just not come Home because of loose agro packs of dogs or allow my dog and/or myself to be bitten.
Sacred substances are being used for recreational purpose while other substances that are very dangerous and not fit for human consumption and being passed off as being these Sacraments are being given without knowledge of what it really is and sometimes without consent. This goes against our Traditions and Values as Sacred substances are just that, SACRED, and used for our religious purposes only, not for fun or something to do Friday night.
One passage in the Declaration says “ We affirm the common desire for wholeness in relationships, that we hold the right to do with our own children what is right and good for them, that we will educate ourselves in wisdom, knowledge and charity and will allow all people to do as they please, given that their actions are not harmful to other living beings. So we all take responsibility for the total transformation of the old.” We need to be more vigilant in teaching this to all who come to this forum and our gatherings. The teaching starts here, continues at our family potlucks and gatherings and finally back at every home, which we are a large part of because of technology.
The computer need not be a “box of evil” as some think or would have us and others believe as we make it what we want it to be. We control what we see and remember, there is an “off” button. The internet is a very powerful tool to teach, learn, network and to keep in contact with family world wide. Use it for that and no evil will come.
Remember there will always be good and bad, responsible and irresponsible. But it’s up to us individually whether we choose good or bad or to be responsible or irresponsible and that our choice not only affects us but the rest of the family and be aware of what the consequences of bad and irresponsible are. Don’t forget It also affects how the rest of the world looks at us and how we are treated and excepted by human kind as a whole.
My Heartsong:
Our circle springs from Spirit, Traditions and Values.
God and Mother Earth are our teachers and guides. Share all you learn from them with others.
Holding hands in a circle somehow connects us not only to one another but also to God above and Mother Earth below.
Many hands and minds working together makes a strong tribe and family.
We walk lightly on the Earth.
We respect and care for each other and for all living things.
We believe in our Traditions and the value of Peace, Love, Self Reliance and Self Responsibility.
We drop all forms of violence in our dealings with others and look for peaceful solutions to conflicts.
We deal with each other honestly with open hearts and open minds.

Peace, Love and Live Light, Tokin.

 

very good post but pretty long, 1/2 way through i stopped reading and began skimming but i think i'd like to re-read it later
if we can find the complete decleration of interdependence id love to see it posted here and have this thread stickied

personaly i think its about time that we reevauluate aned renew these declerations, bring them up to date with how things have changed these past 30 some years and have a refreshed understanding of what it means to be interdependent

 

It is a long post; there are a lot of topics contained in this one post. While I don't have time to address all the subjects mentioned, I do have a few quick comments. I have to disagree with the stance that violent people are not welcome, I feel that all people should be welcome but that violent actions should not be tolerated. I would like to see more folks doing wandering theater raps, which I believe would introduce the mini-manual to newbies in a memorable manner. And could I suggest using citronella spray with the mild pepper spray as a back-up?

 

I know its long, sorry. I just wanted to post as much info as possible on these two documents without splitting them up. I like the idea of wandering theaters for sure. The "non violent people" paragraph came right from the mini manual. I dont know about violent people tho. I think we have too many already that cant get along with other violent people. Thus we have violence. Choose to come as a non violent person I think. I also like Soaring's idea of bringing the Declaration up to date along with the mini manual.

 

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some folks have no money & sometimes offer non-tangables, such as digging laterines or playing music as their contribution to the Gatherings; other folks will donate hundreds of $$ worth of food to supply rather than give to the magic hat; some folks will bring things to donate to certain kitchens, and some will bring donatable goods plus give to the magic hat. It really is all up to the person what they wish to give & where, without expectation, just the hope that all needed items will materialize....and one of the magic parts of Rainbow is that they almost always do!

I don't believe that water or food should be considered as trade items, tho sugary drinks and junk food can either be shared or traded (but let me tell ya, if you want to make friends fast, just give away a bunch of soda or candys to folks you meet on the trail and the good Karma of giving WILL come back to you) I suppose one could trade books but since the birth of the Free Rainbow Library, I am more inclined to donate reading material to them. Tobacco, Massages; very good trade items in my opinion. Other suggestions, flashlights, batteries, lighters, polished rocks & crystals, beads, bottles of bubbles.

Alcohol is strongly discouraged 'in the Church' which could be considered to start at the head of the trail or at Welcome Home, depending on the set up of the Gathering, time & date (don't ask, it's one of those things that you have to experience going from scouting, to seed camp, to solstice, to the main Gathering, to clean-up camp to fully understand ). If you like the scene at A-camp when you're going thru to find your campsite, then my advise would be to go into the main Gathering, check out the scene there for a few days & if you still want to swill a few beers with some old hippies, think about doing it during the day...course I can't verify how many old hippies you will find at A-camp... Also, you probably do not want to camp by A-camp; being new to Rainbow; your best bet is to spend time at many kitchens during your first Gathering & find out where your energy fits in.

The reason there is only info on where to pitch your tent is because there is usually too many acceptable camping places to describe & it all changes according to terraine(pardon my spelling) Tent sharing can happen, we've had workers who slept in the kitchen. Often, there is a shower station set up, and folks always have the option of taking a bucket or shower bag of water at least 150 ft from the water source...and preferablly not anywhere near or above a spring head. doc bronners is good...just PLEASE NEVER PUT ANY SOAP IN A STREAM, RIVER, LAKE or other water source!

Don't be sorry for asking, I know I'd rather answer questions than to see soap in the stream...

There is a manual, we call it the mini-manual and it does contain most of the info that I shared with you here, but it could use some up-dates and some tweaks. You can find it and a lot of other good information about Rainbow at www.welcomehome.org

 

pixie u got a ton of questions, im gonna add ya on aim so we can talk..
cause have a feelin even if we talk everydauy for the next 6 months you'll still have questions when u actualy go
(actualy it tends to take a few gatherings before u really have a clue whats goin on)
but would be happy to answer all i can

 

Thanks for the great thread! More of us need to read it...

 

i think this post is needed. i went to my first gathering in 05 . but havent been able to go since, (till this year, cant wait). i also had alot of the same questions. theres not alot of info out there, and for newbies like me, (i tend to be very shy) it can be overwelming, but also the most incredible expeirience ever. im not very crafty, but i love to learn new things. hope to see many at home ...namaste