The Rainbow Bible Story
Shortly
after the communitarian hippie back-to-the-lander changed his name from Stephen to Ariel
in 1975, he had what he thought at the time was just another creative idea, this time for
an "alternative Bible" for New Agers dissatisfied with traditional biblical
religions. Since Ariel was at this time more or less agnostic and without knowledge of the
spiritual realm, his "Rainbow Bible" really wasn't much more than another soft
sculpture design an basis for his "Rainbow Dictionary", a children's educational
toy that presented toddlers with a soft, rainbow colored book made of seven sheets of felt
cloth that, folded in half, conveniently makes 26 "pages", one for each letter
of the English alphabet. A supply of felt board letters of the alphabet and appropriate
felt figures would accompany the Rainbow Dictionary so that kids could stick the letters
on the dictionary pages themselves. But the rainbow colored felt book seemed somehow
"right" just as it was without any letters or anything in it. The full meaning
of this "Bible" with no words didn't come to Ariel then, not until his spiritual
awakening four years later at Easter of 1979.
The meaning of the Rainbow Bible is very simple
It is the symbolic essence of the Godhead as Light and radiant Truth. It represents the whole spectrum of the Light and Life within the Holy One, a Unity of Diversity.It refutes seeing things only in black and white terms. It represents the many paths to the Source of all knowledge, wisdom, and love within the Light of the World that is the spiritual and material foundation of existence.
A person makes a Rainbow Bible themselves.* Making yourself is part of the wisdom it teaches.
Rainbow Bibles are easy to make:
Seven colored felt swatches, one for each of the seven primary colors of the rainbow, are folded in half to match standard bible size. Two brass clothing rivets inserted through the fold hold the pages together making a "book". That's it.
Since the Rainbow Bible has no words to divide people into "us" and "them", it is truly the most universal and purest of expression of spiritual knowledge.
It has no Do's or Don'ts.
It tells of no exclusive relationship to God by this or that chosen nation.
The Rainbow Bible is for everyone.
The Rainbow Bible will never be a cause of war.
It is the beginning of the Newest Testament for the New Millennium.
* The people of the Hopi Nation are invited to make "special" Rainbow Bibles for those who want them. These Rainbow Bibles will be of dyed felt made from wool from sheep raised by people of the Navaho Nation. It is a spiritual bonding project uniting these two peoples. See more in the Pahana Connection chapter.