Welcome Back Burners
[The Electric Jesus] • What a long, strange burn it’s been. There was the dissident reveler who set the Man on fire early, a tragic suicide, tent-crushing whiteouts, and nearly 10,00 more revelers than the previous year. But with all of its craziness, the playa once again worked its magic, which can be seen in the double rainbow shown here. In this podcast, I share the first time I grokked Burning Man - a night involving alien dance camps, a submarine-styled bus, and a dose of “spreckling” to rid me of my fear of death. As always, I’d like to hear your comments. How did your burn go? Were there any transformative moments you’d like to share? If you didn’t go, feel free to share your best/worst experience ever at the festival of"radical free-expression."
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Tweet- 9-12-07
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I wonder...
At so many ideas and tales...
Intent, intution/ dreamers, engineers...
I love this coffee cup we add sugar and cream to... it swirls so soft from spoon carefree...
What I really wonder... what will happen when we hit 144,000 and we are clothed in playa dust (whitch someone could easily confuse with sack cloth)...
Revel-ations & The Flaming Piano Toss
With 144,000, I think we'd have serious "Revel-ations" on our hands, which means lots o' fun and transformations (and probably even more chaos.
Speaking of controlled chaos, here's a video Charles Shaw recommended of the flaming piano toss at Burning Man. It's dark, so you have to wait until the flames are fully lit to see what these pranksters are up to.
Did Rich English Guy Attend Burning Man?
As soon as I saw the flaming piano toss video I remembered a video I saw last year of a rich English guy who amused himself with his Trebuchet.
In addition to flaming pianos he also loves to launch small cars.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-wVADKznOhY
Speaking for many Burners
Speaking for many Burners out there, I'd have to say that the Englishman's car toss was rather unspectacular and should have involved some type of oversized explosion upon impact. But bravo on the pianos!
I very much hope that when he launches a double decker bus that he uses explosives. It just wouldn't be much fun if there wasn't fire involved.
Into the Within
Every Burning Man experience is unique. I'm still not sure what to think of mine, except that it all feels like a blur, dreams of the past. There are only 50 weeks until the next Burn, in which time we must Burn at home. The number one mistake people make is to imagine that you cannot Burn beyond the playa.
I guess the fact that I have already surrounded myself pre-Burn with amazing individuals -- some Burners and some Burning but not Burners -- that going to the Burn felt normal. Black Rock City is the way the world should be (to a certain extent).
One revelation (but not transformation) that I had was that I seem unable to have fun and enjoy myself when doing tasks that require me to be responsible (i.e. setting up our Goddess Temple, kitchen duty, and taking down the camp). It's hard to realize that everyone else is having fun while you're so deeply focused that you have a serious face on the whole time.
My greatest transformation that took place was when, in a fit of extremely depressed lonliness, I rode out to the trash fence at night. I laid there by my bike in the sand that collects at the edge of the city, looking up at the stars, and crying for over a half hour. No one came to my rescue as I had imagined in a meditative vision several months earlier. I just laid there and cried alone with my lonliness.
The following day, I spoke with a friend who encouraged me to just go out and experience the playa. So I took a random ride around C street. I came upon a camp blaring Lisa Gerrard singing The Host of the Seraphim from Dead Can Dance's Serpent's Egg album (some may recognize this from the film Baraka as well). I stood there leaning against my bike with the speakers filling my ears from behind with spiritual incantations as if I had returned "home" to Westminster Cathedral when I lived in London. As the breeze gently blew past, I meditated and found myself at true peace alone with myself.
When I opened my eyes, there was a guy spinning around in circles with arms wide like an airplane, as floating on the sounds waves projected to that distance. He circled and moved throughout people, gradually heading toward the circular street around Center Camp. At the last moment where he almost left my sight, I jumped on my bike and raced to him. I approached him, introduced myself, and I spent the next hour having good conversations and a fun little dance time at the Deep End, somewhere I would have otherwise avoided for the crowds and overpopularity of the camp.
Yet I am still experiencing breakdowns and revelations even after the Burn, sitting here at home or work as I process it all. The Burn is a nice way to see the possibilities of who we can be in others, and to create beyond that. Burning Man is like an interactive design magazine for life. It's not about creating art, music, vehicles, or your home the way you want, it's about creating your life and who you are the way you want. It's the grandest challenge we face individually before we can ever hope to drastically affect the world outside our own individual microcosms.
Thanks Ora & A Look at Next Year's Theme
Thanks Ora, for such an emotionally open story. Yes, crying out in the darkness of a playa happens to a lot of us. Since the structure and limits of the default world aren't there at the Burn, suddenly our bodies and spirits need to flush out the loneliness, depression, fear, anxiety and all the rest. It seems like you came through your little "playa melt-down" glowing, having opened up to some new magical experiences after letting go.
I agree that the trick is to try and live like Burning Man the rest of the 51 weeks a year, but that, of course, is a challenge in our current society. We're definitely trying to help build these possibilities with the Reality Sandwich and all of you helping to evolve consciousness.
That being said, I am trying to do some early planning for the first time ever, preparing for next year's theme, The American Dream. Just curious what everyone's thoughts are on next years theme, and what ideas you may have brewing.
2006 Theme - Now in Red, White, and Blue!
Despite the fact that the new theme clearly states, "Leave ideology at home; forget the blue states and the red; let parties, factions and the so-called issues that divide us fall away," and "put blame aside," Burners' reactions on the ever-popular Tribe.net (the "Myspace for Burners") have been mixed. Many are taking the new theme as an upfront nationalistic statement by Larry Harvey, who plays a major role in chosing the theme each year.
Some say they will boycott the Burn due to this theme, while others are taking it on as a challenge to create beyond the notions of borders and governments. And a small minority are taking the theme at face value to appreciate the aspects of America that ironically make Burning Man possible in comparison to trying to hold such an event anywhere else in the world. (There are, after all, other salt flats in the world.)
In short, peoples' responses to the 2008 Theme is generally one of hope or one of fear, which was 2006's theme (Hope and Fear). I think there are a number of ways to consider this "American Dream" theme and still return home in 50 weeks with no bitter thoughts:
Creativity is a key element at Burning Man. Anyone who goes there without it will either gain it or not return. I have no fear and only hope that Burners from around the globe will turn any theme presented to them into a positive outlook of all the possible ways they can express themselves to the fullest, whether it reflects their hopes or fears about the American or better yet Human Dream.
Sigh
Burning Man Time Lapse
I thought you might enjoy this 10 minute time lapse video of the Burn since you couldn't make it this year. You can see the Man go up in flames early and then all the playa's horses and all the playa's men put him back together again, only to set him on fire that Saturday night.
Video
Attendees at B-Man
Sandstorms are definitely common out there, but this year was notorious for being very dusty. People often carry around goggles and dust masks for the surprise windstorm.
As for the varrying number of attendees in the video, keep in mind the camera is soley focused on the main out in more of the empty space of "the playa." The numbers on the Black Rock City's main thoroughfare, The Esplanade are pretty crowded throughout the week, but all of these numbers converge to the Man to see him burn.
That being said, my favorite days of the week are Mon-Thurs and Sunday night for the Temple Burn. There's not as many people and these are often the ones who like the festival so much that they're their for more than seeing the Burn.
Thank you
This video is amazing. I've never been to Burning Man, but the ache I feel at watching things like this is rapidly leading me to the tipping point.
Next year I'll be attending at least one, possibly two regional celebrations, mostly to build the kind of planning/camping experience I feel I'll need before committing to the big one, probably the following year. (And that sounds so very reasonable, but I wonder if I'll end up jettisoning all my careful planning, abandon following my head, and follow my spirit to BRC in '08...)
Maybe we should focus on the
Maybe we should focus on the basics?
a: narrator eats mushrooms at ego-filled individuality display parade in the desert
b: narrator gets anxiety
c: narrator realizes he doesn't have anything that he should really be doing next
d: narrator walks around
e: narrator gets toxic glow chemicals put on his face
f: dust storm
g: narrator realizes that we're all just dust and decides not to be paranoid anymore about death
h: bus that looks like a submarine picks narrator and friends up and they all toss a piano on board and realize that the universe is speckles
i: audience still baffled and alienated by the profound gap between psychedelic hedonistic trippers and ordinary people who do not use drugs
I'm an "ordinary" person who
I'm an "ordinary" person who rarely ever uses drugs (I admit I have had caffeinated soda sometimes and a few glasses of wine each year). And odds are (as statistics go), that most people reading this are caffeine addicts (coffee or soda), drink alcohol on a fairly regular basis (at least a few servings a week), and might even have nicotine issues. For those who beat all these odds, and don't use any of these drugs (including caffeine), BRAVO! I wish more people could achieve independence from the drugs pushed on us by commercialism run wild..
For a better understanding of psychedelic trippers, there's plenty of literature and experiences out there that mimic that mode of thought. Read or watch Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter, the Wizard of Oz, and other reality altering children's books for all the psychedelic influence you need. Not that these authors ever used, but the mindset is the same.
You do not need drugs to trip. You just need an open, creative mind, willing to go beyond the boundaries of what it currently considers possible in reality. For many people, they have too many mental obstacles for them to do this naturally without substance assistance. Explorations into consciousness range the gamut, like any major life experience.
You got the basics but....
Hi JacobMarley, you got the basics but missed the story, which is what I noticed with your comments on Daniel's "Burning Briefs" piece as well - somehow you misssed the magic, humor and fun of it all, only to come out with your own cynicism.
Now, like you, I'm an "ordinary" person who very rarely uses any type of "drug" - I don't drink coffee, alchohol, smoke, or other things for that matter, so your self-righteousness seems a little strange to me. But ocassionally, also, I think it's important to have a little fun and try new things.
From your comments in Daniel's "Burning Briefs" post, I see you've never been to Burning Man and would never go, given your skepticism from stories you heard from "a dozen burners" you've met. But I find it is exactly this skepticism that draws lines, borders, and separation around all of us - and of course, that's all fueled by fear. What you're afraid of, I'm not sure, but often it's these fears that prevent us from doing things we would enjoy.
And how do I know this? I used to be like you. "Oh, Burning Man, it's a bunch of hippies having sex and doing drugs in the desert." Sound familiar? But then I heard enough wonderful stories that I finally sucked up my sarcasm and decided to check it out myself.
I can't explain to you the magic that happens when you bring thousands of people together to create their dreams for a week - whether it's through elaborate art installations, amazing costumes, funky art cars, and the sharing, gifting and storytelling that goes on there. Unfortunately, it's just something you have to experience, and to fully, whole-heartedly do that, there's no choice - just as in life, you'll have to leave your cynicism in the dust.
I bet, much like me, underneath it all you're also a dreamer, a romantic, a revel-utionary that wants to change the world while having transformative experiences, and a good time. You just have to be willing, and open enough, to let that person out of the box.
:-)
Dale Pendel on Burning, Man
Hi Burners, thought this was worth sharing:
http://earthrites.org/turfing/
Have thy heart in heaven and thy hands upon the earth - Thomas Vaughan