THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW

A 'review' of The Hidden Dangers of The Rainbow, by Constance Cumbey, 1983

This book is a treasure. Ms Cumbey is definitely onto something...

YES! IT'S MY UN-SECRET SECRET PLAN TO UN-TAKEOVER THE WORLD! HOW EVER DID SHE FIND OUT!

She is an excellent and engaging writer and the book is very well researched, and her arguments well thought out - my only criticism is the lack of a decent index (apologies if this minor quibble has been rectified in later editions).

The subtitle of this book reads 'THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT AND THE COMING AGE OF BARBARISM'.

Basically Connie (can I call you that?) points out that 'New Agers' want to put an end to all Mankind's oh-so civilised wars and usher in a barbaric age of peace! Too right!

I would recommend this book to all New-agers, for the following reasons:

1/ ITS AN INVALUABLE REFERENCE WORK FOR EVERY HIPPY. Some of you might be under the impression that you can 'just' do a bit of Yoga and think a few mystical thoughts - this is not the case! - YOU are part of a highly organised, SINISTER plot to end human suffering! If you feel like getting mobilised this book lists all the organisations that are actually er.. organised [REPETITION! I wouldn't do very well on 'Just A Minute'!]. The wealth of well chosen quotes will help you avoid the ones that are most full of cr*p.

2/ SHE MAKES SOME VERY GOOD POINTS THAT NEW-AGERS DON'T LIKE TO THINK ABOUT. She's absoutely right that Madame Blatavsky's Theosophical Society [which introduced mystical ideas to a wider audience in The West and popularised the term 'New Age'] incorporated rascist philosophies, as did some adherents of other 'Mystery Schools' - The Rosicrucians, for example.

She fails to point out that this was BEFORE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. Given the Nazi's riotous display of Occult symbols it is quite probable that these occultists were, at least in part, responsible for Hitler's ideas - and thus the resultant genocide. But this was BEFORE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. The only good thing about The Second World War was that Racism became generally unpopular and socially unacceptable. Of course there are still plenty of Racists - but ask yourself this, Ms Combey: are our contemporary Western Racists the modern mystics?

"I was attacked by a gang of fascist hippies! It was terrible! No, they didn't have knives.. no. No guns.. but they had glowsticks, Constable! And Mrs. Jones from the bakery came out of her Yoga class .. it was terrible .. she put her legs right behind her head and started chanting .. "

I think not. No, the modern racists are not New Agers. Today's racists mainly fall into two groups - extremely rich racists and extremely poor racists. The majority (but by no means all) of the mystics fall somewhere inbetween - the rich have too much money to pass through the eye of a needle, the poor don't have the money or time for mystical pursuits. Why are the super-rich racists? Firstly, by perpetuating an ethnic underclass they get the cheap labour they need to drive their Capitalist machine to even more absurb heights of consumerist frenzy, so the economy keeps on expanding and er.. everyone is happy :)! Secondly, as long as the underclass are given sufficient encouragement to fight amongst themselves they will be unlikely to unite and refuse to participate in the unethical capitalist system, or even have a boring old bloody revolution. Thirdly, worryingly, it's a popular idea that many of them are mystics, old-school Freemasons and Rosicrucians, hanging out in Bohemian Grove, marching around the Astral Realms clutching their silly two-dimensional maps of God as if they owned the place. To be fair, its not so much the teachings that keeps 'em bad - ITS THEIR MONEY and, more specifically, THEIR ATTACHMENT TO IT. Which is why I think we should help them out - on both those scores.

In Tove Jansson's short story 'The Fillyjonk Who Believed In Disasters' the Fillyjonk worries incessantly that her house will be destroyed by a natural disaster - which indeed it is. She runs down the beach, overjoyed that she no longer has to worry about her house - she is TRULY FREE. I tried this - I am homeless, penniless etc. I think it would work better in a non-capitalist society, like Moomin-valley [DEVIATION! To think I had hopes of replacing the dear, late Clement Freud!]

Returning to the point in hand - the early New Age Religions were RELIGIONS - The majority of the contemporary New-Agers do not join religions, or at least stick with one very long, for preceisely these reasons (or perhaps they have just had their concentration spans eroded by all the quick-cuts on television).

These early New-age cults were also more 'magical' than 'mystical' in nature. Buddhism teaches non-attachment - most of these New-age leaders were born rich and made a lot of money - they were clearly attached to power (being leaders) and wealth (being loaded)- and thus not of very great spiritual advancement by modern Western standards.

Connie (it is alright if I call you that?) quotes many early Theosophists, but mainly Alice Bailey, who was particularly racist. My favourite author doesn't mention that even The Theosphists didn't like Alice and they chucked her out.

She also doesn't mention how The Theosophists chose a young boy to be their 'Maitreya' (Messiah) and trained him in their teachings. To their embarassment, Krishnmurti (for that was his name) left the Theosophical Society and started teaching an altogether more enlightened philosophy:

"We don't seem to realize that it is thought that is separating us from the totality of things."

"To me the question of God is irrelevant and immaterial"
Krishnamurti

Yes, he was The Man. Born wealthy, he was the heir to a massive money-spinning cult - and he just walked away with nothing to his name. And like the Fillyjonk he was happy and free. While you are full of attachments there is nothing to stop you from looking into The Mirror-Like White Light - but you will only see your reflection, and only hear its silent truth through the mouths of the demons that you contain.

Krishnamurti never returned to the Theosophist fold - but, tellingly, the Theosophists later withdrew their claim that Sanat Kumara, from Venus (the star formerly known as Lucifer) was 'King of The Earth', and passed the top-job to BUDDHA. Now thats what I call progress!

Connie (I know it really makes steam come out your ears when I call you that) seems to have entirely overlooked the possibility that the essential nature of the New-age movement changed over time as lessons were learned. In any movement of thought it is not always the trailblazing innovators at the inception who get it all perfectly right. Like people cultures learn, one thing at a time. Newton was great, but he didn't discover Relativity or Quantum mechanics. Blatavsky, even Bailey, had some very profound insights - but the early Theosophists were too deeply steeped in the corrupt culture of the time to see past their own racial and cultural prejudices - and their massive egos. We collectively learnt not to be r

Constance, dear, why are you AT WAR WITH PEACE? Connie-poos, my poor little treacle pudding - why are you so full of HATE for those that LOVE?

What do you see when you look into The Mirror-Like White Light?

Constance, Constance. You are a Seventh-Day Adventist!

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination which is distinguished by its ... emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus" Wikipedia

If you believe in the imminent second-coming of Jesus - why do you only see The Anti-christ everywhere you turn?

All along, the demons you hunted - were you seeing your reflection in The Mirror-Like White Light?

We're all Jesus, baby.