Human Be-In Tribal Heart

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I believe this design was originally intended to represent the "Rainbow People" of traditional American Indian mythology...

Rainbow People are people of all colors and nationalities, coming together with a unified intention to bring healing, peace and love to all living beings. Much of that idealism is coming to the fore today, with our election of President Obama and the changes American want.

Today it is more about getting involved with our world, taking personal responsibility for our actions in a time where there is no excuse for ignorance, blaming or lack of education.

But the general idea of working with diversity has to do with "Being Here Now". In the '60's, Being Here Now was a lot about withdrawing your participation from situations that did not empower you or others, and becoming more present with your "thing", the things you like to do.

The Be Here Now movement was started by a man who called himself Ram Das. Ram Das was also a friend of Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary was a pioneer in using drugs to alter his consciousness... In the same way Native American Indians did their their ancient ceremonies, the hippies of the '60's followed these models of the time.

In the '60's, the idea was all about using consciousness as a way to lift people out from their prejudices and attitudes.

From Wikipedia:

"Turn on, Tune in and Drop Out" is a counterculture phrase coined by Timothy Leary in the 1960s. The phrase came to him in the shower one day after Marshall McLuhan suggested to Leary that he come up with "something snappy" to promote the benefits of LSD. It is an excerpt from a prepared speech he delivered at the opening of a press conference in New York City on September 19, 1966. This phrase urged people to embrace cultural changes through the use of psychedelics and by detaching themselves from the existing conventions and hierarchies in society. The phrase was derided by more conservative critics.

The phrase is derived from this part of Leary's speech:

“

Like every great religion of the past we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present — turn on, tune in, drop out. I mean drop out of high school, drop out of college, drop out of graduate school... [1]

”

Leary later explained in his 1983 autobiography Flashbacks:

“

'Turn on' meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end. 'Tune in' meant interact harmoniously with the world around you - externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives. 'Drop' out suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. 'Drop Out' meant self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change. Unhappily my explanations of this sequence of personal development were often misinterpreted to mean 'Get stoned and abandon all constructive activity'.

During the era of the hippie culture, more and more people came to identify with the rainbow and it's potential symbolism of bringing diversity together. A very popular way of young adults and groups getting together was to organize gatherings for music, love-in's and Be-In's.

To attend a Be-In might be a meditation circle or a pow-wow where people are invited to bring all their energy into the moment - to "Be Here Now". Be-In's were about creating sacred space, quiet circles of energy where people could share with one another. Of course, in the '60's the counter-culture shared things like drugs, sex, rock and roll.

At meditation groups, people were invited to bring pictures of their saints, gurus, personal heroes and avatars. Children were always welcome, and people collected things to share and trade, like flowers (fresh and dried), beads, flutes, gongs, chimes, feathers, bread, wine, colorful flags, incense, crystals, etc.

These trends also all came around the time of the Stonewall Riot, when gay and lesbian groups also adopted the rainbow as their symbolic light of unity in diversity.


The Stonewall Riot came on full-fledge the night after Judy Garland's death... Judy Garland played Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz", and sang the song "Over the Rainbow". Since Judy had many gay and lesbian fans, they wanted to meet in public together to grieve her passage; however they were denied a place to gather, and their grief shortly turned into a riot at a place called Stonewall.

Please feel free to share more what you know here, or find more info about all this on the internet.

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Dear Jesus, please help me to catch on quickly
when someone is being sneaky and not even bothering
to meet me half-way.
Help me to understand and learn...
The differences between privacy, and healthy boundaries,
and outright lying.
Help me Lord, to see through these things right away.
Direct me to the kinds of human bein's I need to "be with"...
People who are present with me,
not holding back on the truth of who they are
or what I need to know,
in order that I can be whole and happy
in sharing myself with them.

Dear God, we all have needs...
Please direct me to the sorts of people
who respect themselves and also respect me.
In Jesus Name, I ask;
Amen.

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