The dust has finally settled after my thirteenth year at TTITD, "That Thing In the Desert", the ephemeral psychedelic experience that is often referred to as Burning Man.
Burning Man celebrates the simple notion that "people have permission to be whoever they want to be. It is such a powerful ideal that people will go to the most inhospitable places in the world in order to get a little taste of it." To explain what the event is or isn't would take a few blog posts, so I will not attempt that here. More reading about the event can be done here!
Every year, participants drive hundreds of miles in the scorching heat in search of Black Rock City, Nevada; a barren desert in the middle of nowhere which we call the playa. They come for different reasons. One perhaps is to find nirvana in a sea of mesmerizing music and sense-blinding electronica. It is a place where people can learn through participation, revelry, and inquiry, how to truly connect and experience what it means to be human.
Here are 13 life lessons from my 13 year journey:
- Do-ocracy - a thought construct that celebrates the empowering notion of taking individual responsibility. In a harsh desert environment, resources are limited. As a result, most everyone choose to work together to achieve community goals (there are those to choose to pay for a "vacation", a controversy being debated in the community at present). This proactive mentality imbues a sense of personal responsibility where actions are motivated not only by self-preservation, but by a desire to make a difference and affect change through actions.
The beautiful art installation Hybycozo
Distrikt Camp day party
The temple of Grace - By David Best
Join me on my next blog where we'll explore the world of electronic music awakening. We will investigate how some aspects connect our tribal past to our communal future.