Kundalini and the Art of Being ... 4The image of the rainbow, as accepted by many spiritual disciplines,
corresponds to the different chakras that ascend up our spines, from
red at the root to purple at the crown. Each color represents a differ-
ent energy, which has something different and unique to offer. And
each person’s aura has an emphasis on a different chakra. Life would
be pretty dull if we were all exactly the same and if all that existed
was white light. If this were the case, then there would of course be
no differentiation between anything at all, and thus no individual
experience. Different colors and energies, it seems, are what make
existence in our world possible—not to mention interesting. This be-
lief is the underlying philosophy of the Rainbow Gatherings: for all
the different colors and myriad shades of the rainbow of humanity
to be welcomed and represented.
Although we stayed at the Rainbow Gathering for ten amazing
days, the most profound experience for many, including myself, came
just a few days after we’d arrived. The forest was extremely dry that
summer. There had been a few reports of mysterious, unconfined
fires in the first few days of the gathering, which had quickly been
discovered and put out. Everyone was warned of the potential fire
danger, and people were keeping their eyes wide open for unsuper-
vised fires.
I was sitting at a small council meeting in main meadow, discuss-
ing this very issue of fire safety, when, from the far side of the mead-
ow came urgent, desperate shouts of “Fire!! Fire!!!”
The group of us got up from where we were seated in the grass and
rushed in the direction of the voice coming through the forest. We
could already see smoke rising from above the trees. As we crossed
the wide meadow and approached the woods, a number of people
came rushing towards us. One of them was yelling, “It’s too late! It’s
totally out of control! Move back! There’s nothing we can do about
it right now...we’ve got to get out of here!”
We could see dark smoke beginning to billow high above the trees,
coming apparently from a ways back in the forest. But the wind was