"we are children of the rainbow of imagination, we are born into the belly of beast, if the worldwide struggle were a jigsaw puzzle, we’d be left holding the very last peace."
Professor Robert Balch
Professor Robert Balch at the University of Montana was ever so insightful. Balch has a PHD in Sociology and specializes in cult religious movements. Although he has always had an interest in socially deviant behavior, he didn’t start out with cults – his emphasis in school was juvenile delinquency. This path appeared before him, however, and before he knew it, he took a leave of absence from teaching and ended up becoming a member of the cult that began Heaven’s Gate for the sake of observational study. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven's_Gate_(religious_group)]. Balch was required to leave behind all of his material possessions and leave behind every aspect of his personal life for the 6 weeks that he participated. After that, he began to realize that studying and teaching about these socially deviant groups was his passion, and he has continued to do so ever since with studies like Love Family and Aryan Nations.
Balch has interviewed countless cult/ex-cult members and found that all members, regardless of social roles or status, felt out of place in conventional society – misfits.
Social deviance = form of breaking free from restrictions of conventional society.
This sparked our thoughts on the concept of a cult. In a cult, people seek to break free from social restrictions, yet they make an intentional commitment to the rigid guidelines of the cult, which can be viewed as being even more restricting. We understand how some absurd social expectations could lead to frustration, anxiety and the seeking of a new reality. To us, however, the extreme lifestyle choices of some of these cults appear to be a form of escapism. Our version of true liberation would be breaking free from restrictions while still maintaining a place in American society. Rather than avoiding the sometimes harsh reality of this country, we can take responsibility for our own participation.
Barry Adams, founder of Rainbow Gatherings
Towards the end of our interview with Professor Balch, he suddenly realized that he should connect us with a friend of his. Barry Adams, founder of the world-wide Rainbow Gatherings, agreed to meet us at a coffee shop 15 minutes after Balch dialed him on the office phone. We approached The Break café in downtown Missoula when we heard, “I think you two ladies are looking for me, and that I’m looking for you” spoken by a grungy man with a head of grey braids, an ohm t-shirt and leather chaps. He spoke of the peace culture that he participates in, saying that the government intervenes because “that’s what progression looks like”. Adams has been arrested for holding the peaceful assembly of the Rainbow Gatherings – communal gatherings where thousands of people come together to honor and celebrate peace and humanity [http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/]. It’s interesting that social deviance – even if it’s a positive and progressive form of defying the norm – is punished and persecuted in this country.
We asked Adams, “do you feel free?” and his prompt response was, “being in the yard, you mean?... So what are we in the yard? Well, we have two choices. One, we can just be inmates. Or we can be the other thing – which is says in the constitution. It says we ought to be individuals, we ought to be citizens, and we ought to govern”. Adams analogy of America as a prison yard confirmed some of our thoughts from the cult discussion – if you’re inevitably stuck in the yard/the conventionality of America/the belly of the beast, you may as well use your yard time to be more productive.
Adams is a hopeful and motivated peacemaker. “We are in the belly of the beast. America. We do have a lot going for us here though. For one, I’m here. And you’re here.”