My Talk at Entheon Village, Burning Man '07
At Burning Man 2007, I gave a talk at Entheon Village. A year later, a copy of the speech came into my possession (thanks to Shakti Kati for sending it my way, and to Andrew Dunn for transferring it into audio files). I am making it available here as a podcast. I remember it being a good one. While I was talking, a fierce dust storm was raging. Soon after the talk ended, rain began to pour. When the storm ended about twenty minutes later, a double rainbow appeared across the sky. Along with the lunar eclipse four days earlier, that double rainbow was a beautiful signifier, like a promise of some type of transformation to come.
This year, I stayed at Entheon once again, but the magic of the camp was gone. The organizers took on incredibly ambitious projects, and were unable to complete them properly. The generators kept blowing out, showers were inconsistent, and the kitchen was feeding 500 people, leading to absurdly long lines. It seems there is a natural evolution in the life of Burning Man camps, where hubris leads to humiliation. It will be interesting to see what next year may bring.
Image by Deidra Vroorman.
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- 9-10-08
- Daniel Pinchbeck's blog
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magic gone?
you are right
hi openeyes,
yes you are right - showers and generators are somewhat inconsequential (though people did pay quite a bit for these amenities). There were other aspects of the camp that seemed more problematic to me - perhaps i will get into this in a future essay. I felt the spiritual overlay of the Pantheogenesis temple in Entheon was a bit hokey, and for me, this pointed toward the gap in Burning Man's pretensions toward developing some new form of spiritual expression and the actual grounding and careful intellectual work that would need to be done to make this more than a gesture. The only piece that I think starts to bridge this gap is my friend Harlan Gruber's piece, Sapphire Portal, which seems some kind of futuristic artifact of consciousness-enhancing technology.
One positive aspect of the Entheon chaos was that it elicited more support from many campmates, who had to step up to fill in the gaps. I truly enjoyed helping out building a yurt and one of the sculptures in the temple, although I had avoided most construction projects in previous years. If I go back next year, I think I will try to go early and help to build more stuff. I was shocked by how satisfying it was.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
hello again
Pantheogenesis Temple
Over the past week or two, I have been witnessing quietly the aftermath of what we created on the playa, this little brainchild that originated in a 3rd floor apartment in Chicago when the Goddess Temple organizers had a discussion about Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine energies (and should they *both* be represented in 2007's Temple?). It has been an interesting 13 months to say the least.
So far the Wall Street Journal article lambasting Burning Man, with Entheon and Pantheogenesis as an example, is quite disconcerting, but I'm glad Charles has written an open letter in response. Otherwise, it's nice to at least see a positive comment about the layout design in the comments here (my primary focus). As for your comments Daniel, there are three points I'd like to make:
1) Pantheogenesis was not Entheon alone. Pantheogenesis was a collaborative effort between Entheon and Sacred Spaces. The temple even sat straddled on the real estate of both camps. If involved with Pantheogenesis again, I would urge for the temple to be completely independent from Entheon or any other camp or village.
This is important, because it thus avoids the brand name nature of Entheon, the source of the cumbersome number of Entheoners attending this year. Additionally, I think as an independent camp, our temple could have really fully exercised our expressions of spirituality.
2) Ironically, in the development stages of the temple, the idea was to allow for as many expressions of spirituality as possible. However, in my personal opinion, I believe in doing so, the organizers began to move in one generalized direction which you may deem more "hokey," even if others take their spiritual expression very seriously (or conversely for some, they're able to realize the importance of not taking themselves too seriously).
In my original vision (RIP December 2007), I envisioned a single sacred space wherein all could commune and meet in a variety of spiritual expressions, even beyond what organizers would have in mind. I'm not sure how that would have turned out, but that idea was never realized.
3) Instead we developed a format wherein we tried to accomodate as many styles of spirituality as we could manage, with special focus on each of our individual interests. Anyone who came on to the program early enough and gifted enough of their time or resources got a significant say in what kind of spiritual expressions took place in that temple. I urge anyone wishing to have more influence in such matters to join temple development next year, whether it is within our same communication structures (see pantheogenesis.com) or with your own sacred space elsewhere.
The temple leadership was an experimental plan wherein there was no head big cheese. There were 5-7 primary leaders in a structure called the Heart. Below this were a core of another dozen or so members considered the Council. And then there were the dozens more who contributed small ideas, equipment, funds, resources, time, and other help.
With only minor hierarchical leadership in place (mainly between the Heart and everyone else), Pantheogenesis developed very organically. The issue is that an organic creation does not develop for the good of all. It develops for the good of its environment, which from January - August was primarily in the worlds that surrounded the Heart and Council members. Certainly more assistance from other world perspectives would have altered the experience as well as the result.
As I mentioned in our very brief meeting on the playa (at the end of the week, with Amanda), I have been meaning to read your most recent book 2012. I hope that it can give me some insight into your ideas of bridging the gap between "gestures" of "developing some new form of spiritual expression" and "actual grounding and careful intellectual work that would need to be done" to do so.
Our attempt was to bridge this gap, whether we succeeded in your perception or not. I think, like many things this year at Burning Man, it was a mixed bag.
Honestly I intuitively feel that my ideas on spirituality may possibly lie more closely to yours than Pantheogenesis provided. Feel free to email me anytime. Charles has my email.
The Pantheogenesis Temple
Hey Daniel;
I'm one of the core organizers of Pantheogenesis and I guess I am finding your refreence to new age hokeyness a little strange.
The makers of this years temple included initiates of many world traditions: buddhist, hinduism, sufism, judiaism, neo-paganism, native american shamanism, chaos magick, hermetic magick, vodoun, and traditional incan peruvian culture intermixed with more post-modern spiritualists, like yourself, who practiced a variety of post-modern spiritualities. It was steeped in traditional lore and knowledge.
An attempt was made to develop a map of consciousness moving from grounded earth beingness to social heart coonsciousness to visionary awakening to divine expressions of masculine and feminine to unity.
An attempt was made to be ecumenical as per ideas around religious diversity in an exploration of the American theme and to allow for syncretic manifestations of ancient wisdom streams to flow through the art that was created.
Perhaps attempting to be as broad as we did, we lost some of push you get for more singularily focused work such as if we had just done a vodoun or hermetic or lakota temple..that is something to think about for certain as we grapple with some of the core issues around religion in the post-modern age.
This was our exploration of 'Unity in Diversity' as expressed through 'Manifest Divinity' in America and the core organizers spent countless hours debating philosophy, religion, spirituality, their particular traditions views on things and how they intersected with science and the modern age to get to the vision we birthed.
For me, it was anything but hokey.
Each work of art was made with deep intention, heart, knowledge, and magick.
Maybe we could have come up with different ways to interactively explore some of these central experiences had we had 20 more committed artists and 30k more dollars to play with and maybe six more months.. As it is, we did the absolute best that we could given our resources.
I'm sorry that it didn't work for you in terms of your personal relationship with the divine and ask that you join us in the process of thinking about how you would incorporate your particular spiritual bent into physical form in a diverse temple such as pantheogenesis.
Regarding Entheon.. ya..there were lots of problems..
It was a growth year for all of us.
temple thoughts
Hi Ora and Veleda,
Thanks for writing here. I appreciate your comments. I was a bit rushed in my initial post and response, as I find myself overwhelmed with deadlines right now – even this effort is going to be a bit of a stretch compared with what I might say given more time to reflect and ponder.
I felt something went off-track with Entheon / Pantheogenesis this year, but I don’t know if I can fully articulate what it was. I wasn’t involved in the planning and only got involved in a bit of the construction because I was there. Next year I would love to be involved in thinking through a camp, though probably not Entheon.
A while ago, I went to see Alex give a talk in NYC about his plan for the temple. He was pontificating about the qabala and the tao and magic and so on, but it all sounded jumbled up and superficial to me. At the end of his talk, I actually got up and said, perhaps impolitically, that it sounded kind of like nonsense, throwing a bunch of half-understood mystical things into a big soup. From that experience (and some others), I should have realized that Entheon was not the place for me to camp. In the end, I feel that Alex (and whoever else was involved) did cast some kind of magical working or spell, but because they didn’t know what they were doing or have clear intention, it turned out to be - not black magic exactly, but bad magic, a kind of hex over the camp. Therefore the generator kept dying, the water system backed up and flooded, etc. The same collective murkiness of intention was reflected in the container project, which seemed a bit of a mess (who comes to Burning Man to live in a windowless box? Isn’t that what prison is for?).
Maybe the temple reflects where we are at in the development of this new form of spirituality/religiosity that some want to bring into being. It is a bit of a hodgepodge. When you visit the actual artifacts and temple spaces of traditional cultures, whether native tribal cultures or more organized civilizations like the Hindus or Tibetans, there is an extremely precise intention in everything that is made and presented. I am not certain we are yet as precise in what we are trying to express.
This point was driven home to me by the “men’s temple,” where there was no meaningful symbology or iconography, no attention given to what it might mean to have a “men’s temple” and what should happen there (not that I know – research would have to be done).
I also don’t think we usually get anything amazing done through committees. Ultimately, the best person or tight-knit artist collective has to be found for a job if we want to see genius emerge (as in the incredible main temple built by Shrine).
This really opens up for me a lot of questions about what is this new spirituality/religiosity? What does it want to express? What would be the best way to express it? Perhaps there is an inquiry process that has to happen first, a kind of open community dialogue, and then a nomination of one leader of each space who is empowered to make all decisions.
My favorite piece two years in a row at Burning Man was Harlan’s “Sapphire Portal” because it crossed over the line between art, temple, and some new form of spiritual technology. It really had consciousness-changing effects if you rested inside of it. He had built it based on a long study of earth energies, acoustic resonances, and sacred geometry, so the ultimate construction had a sense of intellectual rigor as well as beauty and spirit.
I did think the interior of the unity temple and other spaces was really beautiful.
I don’t really even mean to be critical with these comments – I know how hard it is to pull anything off out there, and everything is a learning process.
Personally, I also didn’t like the way the space was blocked off in terms of walking access and also that the spaces were closed at night because of the expensive crystals. What I cherish about Burning Man is its trusting transparent openness. These barriers felt like impediments, like part of a collective mentality that was being a bit too controlling about the types of experience it was allowing people to have. At Burning Man, I would rather have no crystals and freedom of movement and flow - encouragement to explore and transgress.
Yours,
Daniel
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
From your article, 2008: Chicken Little
When we did an interview
When we did an interview with Matt Pallamary recently, he told us the story about the double rainbow at BM!!! What a cool event, the picture he sent us was amazing!
I don't remember that that story made it into Episode #5 or not, but we did put the amazing photo up on our blog at http://blacklightattic.blogspot.com/2008/08/alright-this-weeks-show-is-s... so you can check that out if you want.
Looking forward to the talk, Daniel!
Black Light in the Attic Podcast w/Serpicody & Sancho
http://blacklightattic.podomatic.com
it sounds
Entheon and the temple
correction
Apologies - I was hurrying to get this up, and I was unclear in my post. I meant that I found the Pantheogenesis Temple at Entheon to be a little pretentious. The main Temple out on the playa was an incredible and amazing work - something like Doctor Seuss meets Willy Wonka. Kudos to all who were involved.
However there were some beautiful spaces at Entheon last year also - the image above is from the central area, which was beautifully planned and executed.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
Perhaps
Burning Man, like life,
Roland Emmerich arrives in Vancouver BC Canada to film 2012
Emmerich and 2012
Hi highryder,
I looked into this film, and the many others on 2012 coming out over the next year, in a piece for Reality Sandwich a little while back:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/hollywood_apocalypse
Don't count on Emmerich or any of the other directors to produce anything with a positive, transformative spin -- 2012 to Hollywood equals apocalypse and profits...
-st
Hokey-pokey
Daniel, was this really the first time you noticed the hokiness of the various temple spaces on the new age festival circuit? ;) I have long found the props and makeshift / ersatz rituals mostly superfluous to having spiritual connection - we all have an intrinsic spiritual connection - no matter what, no work involved, and no more or less than any other person, "shaman" or no.
That said, I often like the people. I may not share their spiritual aesthetic, but I like their peacefulness. We are all amateurs in this life, and these people are seeking in their own way.
As for Entheon, I was glad I was in Temple Camp, a part of and yet a little away from the hugeness of Entheon proper. Our showers didn't work that well either (I got one in total, for the week; thank goodness for my big tent and baby wipes!) ...but then, I am not at BM for the showers. Those can be had in Carson City, or at the hot springs along the 395 en route home...
While Entheon struggled to put up their container-condos, I struggled to finish sewing a skirt I wanted to wear for the white procession. I could hear the work crew's power tools while I stitched. I felt for them - we were both just a little over-ambitious. I was just glad I didn't have any clients waiting. :)
There are those who think BM this year was a bit of a bust, since there was less art, an uninspiring theme, or whatever. I was not thrilled to go this year either; I went mostly to support my friend Shine and crew, who built the trash temple... and to my grudging surprise, I had a great time overall.
My experience moved from disappointment about "things" to being a people-centric one. I was thrilled for Shrine and the crew. If the playa was too soft to ride my bike, I walked or caught an art car, or socialized in camp. (Our camp vibe was sweeeeeet!)
I went from thinking I had to see stuff, to just helping or visiting people, and the dots connected themselves.
Sometimes it's what you make it; sometimes it ends up making you. C'est la vie.
"I do not want to talk about what you understand about this world. I want to know what you will do about it. I do not want to know what you hope. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle." - Robert Fulgrum
NLP
You mentioned NLP at burning man. I am obsessed with the subject. I think there's really something to it. Its amazing how all of our individual senses can soak ideas up (sometimes unnoticed...)It would be very odd to be the person with greatest influence over the masses by the time 2012 comes around. What if that influence is in the form of internet sayso? Even still, there's always tv. I could say so much more, but it is just a circle.
Nicole
Can a committee create a Sacred Space? No. But Community can.
I think that startlingly original, beautiful art CAN indeed be created by the community, and this project was an amazing example of that.
"Hokey?" When, on this earth, in this century or any other, has anyone ever seen a structure like this one -- a modern, sacred container for conscious spiritual expression and healing that adheres to NO cult, religious group or dogma, but is truly created by and for the people?
As the person who was "in charge" of organizing the logistics and vision for the Sound Healing Yurt (Sacred Feminine) and Contemplative Music yurts (Sacred Masculine) at temple Pantheogenesis this year, I would just like to clarify a few things in Daniel's comments.
Due to a lot of setbacks, the final vision for the Temple was not completed at Burning Man 08. (www.temple08.com) There were supposed to be LED-lit "skins" around the domes and yurts that would echo the Kabalistic geometrical form of the temple, and chambers people would walk through. Between the yurts, there would be a great Abyss and a Labyrinth.
Lacking the skin, and this "container" the result we had at BM 08 were cluttered and chaotic -- but keep in mind it is an ambitious work in progress that just didn't get finished yet.
I go to a lot of ashrams and temples, and I've traveled the world, but I can't say there is anything in this space I've ever seen before in any Church, temple or meditation center, anywhere on this earth.
For those who thought it was "hokey" perhaps they do not understand the cutting edge metaphysics behind the Temple's crystal grid and sacred geometry. I also thought crystals were "hokey" and New Age until I got involved with this project and started to understand the concept of an energetic grid.
Art by committee? Or community?
Daniel, I totally disagree with the elitist, old school idea that great art can only emerge from "experts" or a single visionary dictating every detail. What's unique about Burning Man is that anything goes here and there are few rules -- and in this way, brilliant new creative ideas can emerge from the collective consciousness. Anyone is and can be a self funded artist at Burning Man.
The budget for these two yurts was a grand total of $250. They represented a new vision for "green" sustainable community space. Everything in these spaces was borrowed, donated or dumpster dived--the carpet scraps came from dumpsters, the art was loaned by artists, the cushions, candles, crystals -- all were donated.
The yurts represented the labor, talent and contributions of hundreds of people in Sacred Spaces and Entheon.
They did not emerge from an Ego dictating the work and enslaving people to blindly follow their orders--but through divine guidance that was expressed collectively. Of course they might have been more "professional" if one person dictated the vision, but they were more powerful by containing this collective energy.
Second: The Male yurt was not intended to be a temple, but simply a chill space for contemplative music that expressed the Divine Masculine aesthetic, and in this it was enough.
If you visited both yurts, you'll notice that they are exactly the same but mirrors of each other expressing the yin/yang polarities of Female/Male. More about this later, in another essay.
If you read the website, http://www.temple08.com, you will see that the Vision for the Temple was intentional down to the most minute detail, and painstakingly planned months in advance by a council of people who included an Emmy-award winning set designer/art director and several people who devote their lives to healing and creating ritual.
Maybe they weren't experts in creating Burning Man infrastructure, or managing huge camps, but they certainly were passionately committed to the artistic details.
I think that many aspects of this temple were groundbreaking in our community-- sacred geometry, the original works of art created from tree roots, driftwood and other natural found objects, the crystal matrix throughout the space that intensified the energetic field within this space, and even the structures themselves, such as the Main heart space and the Yurts, which were designed, welded and sewn by people in the Entheon Village community.
As you say: "Maybe the temple reflects where we are at in the development of this new form of spirituality/religiosity that some want to bring into being. It is a bit of a hodgepodge."
I agree. We aren't yet evolved to the point where we can Flow together, like a flock of birds in flight, or a sea of fish, harmoniously and wordlessly traveling together, or working like bees or other members of the animal kingdom who can flow together and create organized structures without language or plans. But in this project, there were moments when we came very close to that.
What astonished me, when the work was done, was how incredibly harmonious and elegant the temple was, even though we had no money, even though we worked through four crippling dust storms, even though most of us fell ill during the week, even though we suffered massive setbacks beyond our control.
In the end, the Temple was really a vision of One Spirit that was expressed through the work of hundreds of people.
It didn't come From us, it came Through us.
Re: temple thoughts
Regarding your statements:
"This point was driven home to me by the men’s temple, where there was no meaningful symbology or iconography, no attention given to what it might mean to have a men’s temple and what should happen there (not that I know research would have to be done)."
Actually the Men's Temple was given definite consideration. Over the course of several months we continually encouraged the men in our communities (SF, LA, Chicago, NY, and more) to step up and volunteer. No men willing to take on the leadership role for this space ever really surfaced. I think instead that the Men's Temple was more telling about the way that masculinity in this day and age is unwilling to step into the role that it now feels has been tainted by their rejected fathers. Patriarchy is a bitch, but none so much as it seems to be for, strangely enough, men.
"I also don’t think we usually get anything amazing done through committees. Ultimately, the best person or tight-knit artist collective has to be found for a job if we want to see genius emerge (as in the incredible main temple built by Shrine)."
This project was an experiment in project management wherein no one was a singular leading artist. And I personally would have to say I would never do such a leadership structure ever again. It does not work. I agree.
Regarding the rest of your comments, well put. :-)
Blessings,
Ora
New Moon / Black Moon
wow. lots of comments. neat.