Burning Man was central to my life and work for 26 years. I’m on year 2 of an indefinite hiatus from the event itself, but the 10 principles (especially Gifting & Radical Self Expression) remain tied to my identity and shape the communities I’m a part of.
I always love your perspectives, so this post is a true delight.
brother man! we've bowed out lately also--forever grateful for what's it's been and less and less interested in what it's becoming. But you're Love More/Fear Less riff is one I've shared far and wide (usually with mountain biking or skiing analogies bolted on)--it's a pithy distillation of that Unameable Thing!
I recognize that it is still a container that results in massive personal growth - but the culture has enough tarnish now that I'm no longer willing to defend it against all naysayers (as I once did.)
I'm in an odd headspace. As I see people prepare for the Playa, I don't have FOMA... but I feel grief. Grief for the loss of something that used to give me so much purpose and hope.
I'd love to send you a collection of some pithy stickers. If you''d like: shoot a mailing address to john@styn.net.
(That goes to anyone who reads this. Happy to Gift a sticker to anyone who sends their address.)
Great description of the 3rd BM that cannot be named but is lit pretty close by your post! & my two cents: Yes, the hbo doc, imo, is a turn off of what BM is or could be, mainly because it focuses on all the problems and headaches, which are worth exploring, but two shows in and it barely mentions the Art, and so far does not get near to giving any idea why people would want to go, a la your 3rd version...
Yes and it’s kinda ironic that episode 3 last night focused more on transformation and art. And it wasn’t too bad except i could do with a doc that has zero Kimble Musk as Mark Day says. Of course Marion’s eyes lit up when she mentions big businessmen. Tho she is becoming more a hero as the show goes on…thanks again for sharing what BM truly is to me..!
I hear the point, and good for those who needed that and could go. The spectacle and hardship can function as a modern initiation into collective awe and a temporary experience of meaning beyond the ordinary self. But it is one route among many. I didn’t need Burning Man, or anything like it, to feel initiated.
no…i knew about it…people going (nothing transformative appeared to have happened from what was visible on the outside.) but i also didn’t grow up here, am connected to native American…and have learned to trust the inner calling as to what we need on the journey.
well then respectfully, you simply do not have the requisite experience to comment. I was right there with you, and was 100% biased against the event (preferring green old growth forests and more groovy gatherings, or solo time in the wilderness) and on the first day there on recon for friends and family thought "nope, not for me, would not recommend!" And then I experienced some of the things I attempt to describe in this essay and realized it was an utterly novel incredibly potent thing, the likes of which I'd not seen in thirty years of scouring countercultural transformational gatherings and ritual. So it is what it is, but it cannot be parsed long distance. Either but the ticket and take the ride, or have the humility to know that you don't Gnow.
…addendum to my first reply to this. While I was making coffee just now, I remembered something you wrote a long time ago somewhere, might be in your book…about an English “boy” who went to some event…- don’t remember if it was a concert or something else…and …well…those mass events are invocations…. of what you do know if you have experienced it. And you ended up screaming…..etc…Me: it seems to me that you were drawn to that type of event for a long time…Me: I have been on spaces….you might not know how to move in, perceptions opening up though completely different means…and I could not describe it to you any more than you can yours. The point I am trying to make is: not everyone needs it, and the people who do need to be there…they go. Also, I am not saying don’t have the event…that is does something…I am saying not everyone needs it and you are telling me i don’t have the experience to comment? only on what might happen at the event, true, but not comment at all…hello? I do know my body…this is not a mental judgement…if is the body knowing. …a deep sense of yes or no for ME…not you….
fair enough…and you also don’t know where i have been…and no…I still think i don’t need it. Just because something happened for you which cannot explain, well…I am not like you…and groovy gathering…one; it sounds dismissive, and 2…i never meant those in the first place.
well then respectfully, you simply do not have the requisite experience to comment. I was right there with you, and was 100% biased against the event (preferring green old growth forests and more groovy gatherings, or solo time in the wilderness) and on the first day there on recon for friends and family thought "nope, not for me, would not recommend!" And then I experienced some of the things I attempt to describe in this essay and realized it was an utterly novel incredibly potent thing, the likes of which I'd not seen in thirty years of scouring countercultural transformational gatherings and ritual. So it is what it is, but it cannot be parsed long distance. Either but the ticket and take the ride, or have the humility to know that you don't Gnow.
I had the opportunity for a ride and a ticket to the Burn around 2015, and turned it down because I just got a p/t job. Maybe I goofed?
I am 82 years old and attended the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. For me the music there was great but secondary. What stood out was the brother/sisterhood of 500,000 without police or other central authority. For example, after the huge rainstorm, some people lost their tents--but that was not a problem because the nearest tent would take you in. For me, this proved, that against social theory, humans can cooperate.
Years later I heard about the Rainbow Gathering--the Woodstock offshoot where the tribes gather to celebrate peace and love in the cathedral of nature. Since then I've attended many nationals, regionals, and a couple of international Gatherings in Mexico. I even organized a couple of them in Cambridge. MA, on the Charles River.
I'm not sure why I am mentioning all of this, but the resemblances and contrasts of Rainbow and Burning Man seem to me to be profound. But I'll leave that up to someone who has experienced them both to describe.
for sure--Acid Tests to Dead Show sowed the ground (especially in the Bay Area). Rainbow Gatherings established the decentralized large gathering on public lands (NFS, rather than BLM). As it happens, as a young grad student, went to the 20th anniversary rainbow gathering in Paonia CO in 1992 (which by pure coincidence, sits 15 miles downhill from where I write this now!)
I loved this. When I commit to fully reading one of your articles which usually requires a lot of mental effort because it’s like 80% fog of war for me…
It’s always a satisfying adventure.
I (think) I had a mini glimpse of what you describe at a Red Hot Chilli Pepper concert in Toronto. Seeing all the different neighborhoods of Toronto in one place… old, young, bankers, mechanics, etc.
It just filled me with gratitude and realized for the first time the importance of stadiums as the beating heart of a city.
So I can’t even imagine what Burning Man might be like. Will need to experience myself as you said.
Got an invite from one of my dearest soul friends to attend Burning Man, and your article helps me understand why he wants me to share the experience. (Also, I am sapiosexually love-struck by your ginormous vocabulary-that's an observation, not an invitation)
Burning Man,…a long soap opera that ripped off the earlier more Acid oriented Gila Monster Jamboree in the Mojave….meh, like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.
Burning Man was central to my life and work for 26 years. I’m on year 2 of an indefinite hiatus from the event itself, but the 10 principles (especially Gifting & Radical Self Expression) remain tied to my identity and shape the communities I’m a part of.
I always love your perspectives, so this post is a true delight.
Thank you.
Halcyon
Co-founder Pink Heart Camp
Www.PlayaPrinciples.com
Instagram.com/burnerprep
brother man! we've bowed out lately also--forever grateful for what's it's been and less and less interested in what it's becoming. But you're Love More/Fear Less riff is one I've shared far and wide (usually with mountain biking or skiing analogies bolted on)--it's a pithy distillation of that Unameable Thing!
Yes!! You just made my day.
I feel you 100%
I recognize that it is still a container that results in massive personal growth - but the culture has enough tarnish now that I'm no longer willing to defend it against all naysayers (as I once did.)
I'm in an odd headspace. As I see people prepare for the Playa, I don't have FOMA... but I feel grief. Grief for the loss of something that used to give me so much purpose and hope.
I'd love to send you a collection of some pithy stickers. If you''d like: shoot a mailing address to john@styn.net.
(That goes to anyone who reads this. Happy to Gift a sticker to anyone who sends their address.)
yeah, not sure if this one ever crossed your screen--but wrote about the four stages of any counter culture movement applied to the playa https://jamiewheal.substack.com/p/artists-mavens-carnies-and-tourists?utm_source=publication-search
I came to pink heart to have you sign my copy of your book in 2011, and wound up in the Oh The Places You'll Go video >_< such a wild memory/time
What a classic BM time capsule that video is. I feel so honored to be in it, too!
Great description of the 3rd BM that cannot be named but is lit pretty close by your post! & my two cents: Yes, the hbo doc, imo, is a turn off of what BM is or could be, mainly because it focuses on all the problems and headaches, which are worth exploring, but two shows in and it barely mentions the Art, and so far does not get near to giving any idea why people would want to go, a la your 3rd version...
yes--the art feels like what truly distinguishes it from all else, and adds so much humanity to what might otherwise just be EDC in the dust
Yes and it’s kinda ironic that episode 3 last night focused more on transformation and art. And it wasn’t too bad except i could do with a doc that has zero Kimble Musk as Mark Day says. Of course Marion’s eyes lit up when she mentions big businessmen. Tho she is becoming more a hero as the show goes on…thanks again for sharing what BM truly is to me..!
Marian and I had a chat before it all came out--lots going on behind the scenes and between the lines
I hear the point, and good for those who needed that and could go. The spectacle and hardship can function as a modern initiation into collective awe and a temporary experience of meaning beyond the ordinary self. But it is one route among many. I didn’t need Burning Man, or anything like it, to feel initiated.
but..did you ever go?
no…i knew about it…people going (nothing transformative appeared to have happened from what was visible on the outside.) but i also didn’t grow up here, am connected to native American…and have learned to trust the inner calling as to what we need on the journey.
well then respectfully, you simply do not have the requisite experience to comment. I was right there with you, and was 100% biased against the event (preferring green old growth forests and more groovy gatherings, or solo time in the wilderness) and on the first day there on recon for friends and family thought "nope, not for me, would not recommend!" And then I experienced some of the things I attempt to describe in this essay and realized it was an utterly novel incredibly potent thing, the likes of which I'd not seen in thirty years of scouring countercultural transformational gatherings and ritual. So it is what it is, but it cannot be parsed long distance. Either but the ticket and take the ride, or have the humility to know that you don't Gnow.
…addendum to my first reply to this. While I was making coffee just now, I remembered something you wrote a long time ago somewhere, might be in your book…about an English “boy” who went to some event…- don’t remember if it was a concert or something else…and …well…those mass events are invocations…. of what you do know if you have experienced it. And you ended up screaming…..etc…Me: it seems to me that you were drawn to that type of event for a long time…Me: I have been on spaces….you might not know how to move in, perceptions opening up though completely different means…and I could not describe it to you any more than you can yours. The point I am trying to make is: not everyone needs it, and the people who do need to be there…they go. Also, I am not saying don’t have the event…that is does something…I am saying not everyone needs it and you are telling me i don’t have the experience to comment? only on what might happen at the event, true, but not comment at all…hello? I do know my body…this is not a mental judgement…if is the body knowing. …a deep sense of yes or no for ME…not you….
fair enough…and you also don’t know where i have been…and no…I still think i don’t need it. Just because something happened for you which cannot explain, well…I am not like you…and groovy gathering…one; it sounds dismissive, and 2…i never meant those in the first place.
well then respectfully, you simply do not have the requisite experience to comment. I was right there with you, and was 100% biased against the event (preferring green old growth forests and more groovy gatherings, or solo time in the wilderness) and on the first day there on recon for friends and family thought "nope, not for me, would not recommend!" And then I experienced some of the things I attempt to describe in this essay and realized it was an utterly novel incredibly potent thing, the likes of which I'd not seen in thirty years of scouring countercultural transformational gatherings and ritual. So it is what it is, but it cannot be parsed long distance. Either but the ticket and take the ride, or have the humility to know that you don't Gnow.
I had the opportunity for a ride and a ticket to the Burn around 2015, and turned it down because I just got a p/t job. Maybe I goofed?
I am 82 years old and attended the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. For me the music there was great but secondary. What stood out was the brother/sisterhood of 500,000 without police or other central authority. For example, after the huge rainstorm, some people lost their tents--but that was not a problem because the nearest tent would take you in. For me, this proved, that against social theory, humans can cooperate.
Years later I heard about the Rainbow Gathering--the Woodstock offshoot where the tribes gather to celebrate peace and love in the cathedral of nature. Since then I've attended many nationals, regionals, and a couple of international Gatherings in Mexico. I even organized a couple of them in Cambridge. MA, on the Charles River.
I'm not sure why I am mentioning all of this, but the resemblances and contrasts of Rainbow and Burning Man seem to me to be profound. But I'll leave that up to someone who has experienced them both to describe.
for sure--Acid Tests to Dead Show sowed the ground (especially in the Bay Area). Rainbow Gatherings established the decentralized large gathering on public lands (NFS, rather than BLM). As it happens, as a young grad student, went to the 20th anniversary rainbow gathering in Paonia CO in 1992 (which by pure coincidence, sits 15 miles downhill from where I write this now!)
I loved this. When I commit to fully reading one of your articles which usually requires a lot of mental effort because it’s like 80% fog of war for me…
It’s always a satisfying adventure.
I (think) I had a mini glimpse of what you describe at a Red Hot Chilli Pepper concert in Toronto. Seeing all the different neighborhoods of Toronto in one place… old, young, bankers, mechanics, etc.
It just filled me with gratitude and realized for the first time the importance of stadiums as the beating heart of a city.
So I can’t even imagine what Burning Man might be like. Will need to experience myself as you said.
Got an invite from one of my dearest soul friends to attend Burning Man, and your article helps me understand why he wants me to share the experience. (Also, I am sapiosexually love-struck by your ginormous vocabulary-that's an observation, not an invitation)
YES. (except good burners do not wear feathers and sequins!)
This is brilliant... dazzling writing!
Burning Man,…a long soap opera that ripped off the earlier more Acid oriented Gila Monster Jamboree in the Mojave….meh, like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.
https://youtu.be/NmI9MDldxeI
your troll is showing...
Every bridge needs a well informed Troll
Beautifully written. Thank you!