This year, I made it a priority in life to make it back to Black Rock City for the 25th Burning Man. And after returning, I had initially found myself in the complicated state of “how in the hell can I summarize my 7 days in the inter-galactic desert in one blog post?”. To be truthful and honest and straight up, I simply cannot. Burning Man is one of those things that has to be experienced in the first person. Nonetheless, It was a big, fantastic week in my life–and I have decided to pick one individual, personal story from my trip to share that I feel conveys a big reason why Burning Man is in its 25th year.
My Burning Man strategy–that has developed over the course of 3 Burns (2008,2009,2011) and 20 or so days I have spent on the playa (the playa is the actual desert/dust bowl that Black Rock sits on) is pretty straight forward. At night, I go out and explore the energy–party, dance, and hang with amazing people into the wee hours. During the day, I go to lectures, guided meditations, and spend a great deal of time exploring the spiritual side of things. At Burning Man, you can truly create your own experience–and much of it happens by happenstance and random encounters with great people and teachers. They give you a guide book when you enter that details the workshops and events of the week.
On the Saturday of this year, I was at a guided meditation at one of the spiritually focused camps (Red Lightning)–and ran into a new friend (her name is Uma and lives in Olympia, Washington). Neither of us had any plans, but had both had intentions to spend time in the Burning Man temple (called the “Temple of Transition” this year). So we set off on our bikes across the playa towards the temple (which sits at 12:00 on the Burning Man clock grid).
There are three big burns (celebrations upon which massive pieces of art are set on fire) at Burning Man. On Friday night this year, they burned a gigantic Trojan Horse, on Saturday “the Man” burned to cheers and music blasting, and on Sunday night the Temple burned in complete silence. People are drawn to Burning Man for the counterculture, the party, and the universal love that flows through the experience. But, it is my sense that the connection with the Temple is what brings people back year after year– and truly differentiates the experience from any other “Festival”.
The Temple, in structure, is an ornate, gigantic art piece. This year, for the first time that I know of, the temple was significantly bigger than “the Man”. Throughout the week, many burners journey out to the temple with specific, personal intentions–and many others might figure out their intentions when they get there. Many people hang up pictures of loved ones that they have lost. The temple is decorated with pictures of husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters,parents, dogs, cats, best friends, and lovers that have passed away in the previous year(s). Many people write in black sharpie on the temple about ex-girlfriends/boyfriends that they want to emotionally leave behind–or write specific intentions about how they want to grow as people. Others, share inspirational or motivational quotes or sayings.
Click to View (if you can’t see image below):Video of the Temple from a hot air balloon:
You can physically feel the energy in the space. It is a mix of sadness, strength, suffering, and hope. The idea–is that when the temple burns on Sunday–these feelings of heaviness, sorrow, and loss are released–while the intentions to better ones self, and breakthrough the tough times are crystalized and/or memorialized through the ritual.
When we first got out to the temple, which is the furthest point away from everything, we explored and took in the experience, then decided to sit in the middle of it all. There had to be at least 100 people sitting with us–while another 100-200 walking around the perimeter. It was very quiet–but there were chimes playing in synchrony at all times. I borrowed a pen and paper from Uma and I wrote down what I wanted to personally wanted to work on–and my intentions for the next year.
While sitting there, in a deep meditative state, I experienced this profound, universal connection with all of the other people we were with. The feeling hit me physically, and I became deeply connected with the individual pain and suffering of the group surrounding us–and of the Burning Man community as a whole. I began to think deeper about this feeling–and expanded my thinking to my friends and family back home, other people that have been in my life, and then to all of humanity. I was physically feeling this universal suffering (certainly not a new idea, the Buddha outlined it in great detail 4000 years ag0, and Jesus certainly had his head around it 2100 years ago). It is truly the one thing that we all have in common. At some time or another, we all suffer. We all love and lose at some point, we all lose people very close to us, and we all eventually die. Steve Jobs has suffered…. So has, The Dalai Lama…. As has Oprah….. along with that homeless guy I saw the other day on the subway. We suffer as individuals, as families, and countries, and now as a global society (you can pick up any newspaper and realize this immediately). We all have this thread in common. It is part of the human experience.
I write about this not to convey the obvious, or to come from this heavy place–but merely to convey this breakthrough and understanding that I personally experienced during this mediation in the temple. When something is so unbelievably universal—then there is no need to fear it or hide from it. In society at large, as individuals- we do not deal with this suffering. We are terrified in day to day life of it happening. Then, when it does, we sweep it under the rug, repress it, ignore it, or medicate it. Burning Man provides an outlet to become present with, and work through the hard and heavy stuff that we all deal with at one time or another.
Personally, I came into the 2011 burn in a very solid and beautiful state of being. This year has been one of the best I can remember. I have been working a new job for the last 6 months that I truly love, I just got a great apartment in the West Village, I have been traveling quite a bit, and meeting incredible, incredible people along the journey. My family is also doing very well–as are the large majority of my friends. Moreover, I have been working hard to develop myself from the inside out– and growing and learning exponentially.
As I sat in the temple, I was not feeling my own personal suffering. I somehow tapped into the suffering of everyone else–and it literally knocked me over. I was intermittently brought to tears through this meditation. I was certainly releasing something –but I do not feel like it had anything to do with me personally. According to what I know about Astrology, this is a very Piscean quality (and I just happen to be a full blow Pisces). Incidentally, I went to a lot of lectures on psychology and astrology this year at Burning Man and became much more present about my personal astrological chart.
In retrospect, what I find really cool and special about this experience in the Temple–is that I figured out something really important about the essence of Burning Man. At its core, and most profound state, Burning Man is a powerful ritual and vehicle to heal. It is a place to let the pain, suffering, stress and sorrow go. It is a place to make peace with oneself and release what is not wanted or holding us back. When the temple burns on Sunday night–so do many negative memories, addictions, and attachments. As the Burning Man community sits together around the temple in silence–a very heavy weight is lifted.
Most people are initially drawn to Burning Man for the idea of a wild and crazy party (and it certainly delivers in this department)–but I truly believe that most people come back year after year to let go of what is holding them back from the past, to connect deeply with the present, and to help manifest what they want for the future. This integration of the past, present, and future IS the actual party.
A week of Burning Man is like a car wash for the soul. You go in with all this gunky black stuff constraining and blocking the light. You come out all shiny, bright, and in many cases glowing.
In my first two experiences at Burning Man, I was able to work through some really tough things in my life–and come home a better and stronger person. This year, I went into the Burn in a very solid place–and have come back with a deeper understanding of what really happens in the middle of the desert, in the middle of nowhere, at a made up place called Black Rock City—and its magically transformational.
Click to View (if you can’t see image below): Video of the Temple Burn on Sunday Night:
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