This year at the burn I saw a bumper sticker that said, “my vacation is your worst nightmare.” While this is both hilarious and probably true for many, you have to wonder why it is that so many people come from around the world to spend a great deal of time, money and reorganize their entire lives to be in the dust and endure the elements of sun, dust, heat, and cold. The outside world tends to focus on the absolutely epic debauchery that takes place while completely disregarding the art, beauty and community collaborations. Burningman cannot be described in words, it must be experienced and is different for each individual.
There is a saying that goes, “. Burningman doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need.” It is a choose your own adventure, a real-time fantasy that you only have slight control over. Your intentions, unconscious mind, and “burning man GODS” have most of it. Some participants navigate the burn with grace and ease while enduring the inevitable challenges with a sense of surrender and joy. Others get humbled, frustrated, traumatized and thrown through the ringer so that tech millionaires, hippies, Europeans, Asians, Canadians, optimists, pessimists, and all people of the world operate from an equal playing field.
Surrender is a constant theme and lesson that all #burners face. This lesson forces us into humility and also community connection as we must learn to ask for help. Burningman is nothing without the people, the community that chooses to lend a helping hand rather than a knife in the back. Some operate in the default world with a mental layer of separation from the rest of the world.
At the burn we are reminded that we are all in this together and what’s possible if we can work together. It creates a container for rapid and permanent transformation as you’re violently flung from your “ego” and idea of yourself into situations that force you to consider everything you thought you were, knew and believed. We are reminded that kindness and authenticity are staples of what it is to be a good human being. We are reminded that both good and evil exist in this world and “WE” get to choose which team we support. Your burn starts now! #burn365
