| Imagine
yourself on a flat dry moonscape in complete darkness,
with flickering light and percussive sounds of music
in the far distance. You are on survival adventure
in a place of radical self-reliance, and your tent
is a 20 minute bike ride away. You are dressed in a
fanciful costume with a glow stick for a necklace,
and the air is barely cooling down from a scorching
day in the desert. Next to you is a looming figure
of a wooden man on a platform, and dozens of other
bicycles waft past you as you turn and head toward
the village on the horizon. You are in the Black Rock
desert of Nevada, and you are about to have all your
thoughts of reality shifted dramatically. |
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| Burningman
is an experience in attitude adjustment. Burningman
is an event that is an evolving organism, multicultural,
diversely artistic and fairly free of any future planning
that restricts it from its own unique transformation.
Within its outward ritualistic look, there is a sincere
desire to merge with the collective as a creative outlet.
There is a conscious effort to gather simply for celebration
- unnamed, without a goal, merely enthusiasm for an
experiment in individual expression. "The neo-tribal
family is strongly present here, more so than any other
festival I attend. I am encouraged by the young people
who are drawn to it", says Fantuzzi, World
Troubadour. For him, it is a personal catharsis
in a space of total freedom with no specific tradition
nor religion nor thought of how it's supposed to be.
He says further, " we open ourselves to the possibility
of a 'share'emony for a profound let-go - each person
decides what that is." |
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| The
week-long Burningman Festival, now held regularly near
Gerlach, Nevada, has evolved out of a simple ceremony.
Larry Harvey and a friend seeded the idea when they
got together in 1986 to burn the effigy of a man on
a beach in San Francisco. Their spontaneous impulse
was a sight that immediately drew people in, and set
a precedent in radical self-expression. So inspired,
Larry continued to gather friends to yearly Burns.
Eventually, because of fire hazards and police pressures,
they transplanted the Man from the beach to the desert.
The figure and the purpose of the Burn have mutated
along with the shifting population of Burners, and
become larger and more complex over the years. In 2002,
the Man is 37 feet high, standing on top of a five
story stair-cased tower. It glows with neon and will
emit, during the final Burn, other pyrotechnic marvels,
including a spectacular fountain of scintillating luminant
points of colored fireworks, imprinting indelibly upon
the eyes of all. On the culmination, everything, including
the wooden support, the neon and all the trappings,
will be burned in an extravagant ceremony with a cast
of thousands, discarding the negative and making room
for the positive.
The
community of Black Rock City is sprawled out on
a dried up lakebed which had once been a rocket
testing field. It has grown from a few hundred
(1988) to 5,000 (1992) to 15,000 (1998). The current
site is between two mountain ranges with the Burningman
figure set in the middle of a doughnut shaped,
320 degree encirclement, nearly two miles in diameter.
Now planned out well in advance, with street names,
camp locations, lamps, and centralized medical
stations, this year it consists of 30,000 people
and their own ideas of free style camping: shared
shade and homes configured from RV's, moving vans,
lean-to's, huts, yurts, geodesic domes, Morrocan
and nomad-style contraptions, parachutes and tents
of all shapes, perforations, colorings and styles.
There are strange, unique structures - some are
two or three stories high, with upper level platforms
or towers of blinking, rotating, multi-varied lights.
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| At
its essence, burning the Man is a metaphor for the
willingness to sacrifice objects that hold you back
from your own freedom. It is freeing to watch something
that symbolizes negativity being consumed by the power
of fire. You see it with your own eyes and somehow
in your heart it becomes so. Each person filters into
the experience their own idea of what they are watching
- are they merely playing with fire? Or creating contemporary
alchemy - disintegrating the old history of life and
invoking a path more true-to-the-heart. Caught up in
the moment, our inner child comes to light and life. |
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It
stirs up a deep longing to address unfinished conflicts
within our souls. It inspires people to make resolutions
as they throw in their own chips of wood with unspoken
messages for themselves to disintegrate unwanted and
non-useful parts of their past. Meaningful sacred communion
is a missing link in many people's lives, and here,
we recreate our own version of what we long for - bonding
and acceptance, recognition of self in Other, and desire
for continuity. Sculptures and camps give opportunities
to participate in significant smaller burns, and other
self-made rites-of-passage.
We
manufacture a friendly terrain on top of the harsh
ecology. Here, creative ideas flourish and imagination
seeds one camp to another. At each gathering the
diversities of the playa environment become more
complex, evolving as though it were its own planet.
This year one large tent was transformed into a
tropical paradise with a waterfall and sod floor.
Groups form in Theme Camps to inspire and involve
each other for a new vision each year. |
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| Twilight
is the best time to be flying across the open playa
on a bicycle. Like a space ship in the void, you catapult
on a deliriously flat surface, unable to calculate
your exact speed, but incrementally approaching the
lights that enlarge and reveal the circular rim of
the Esplanade - the inner promenade of Theme camps
and fun activities. You can see many types of moving
creatures and vehicles, people on interestingly shaped
bikes, art cars made of golf carts, a bookmobile, a
seahorse carriage, motorized platforms with couches,
a dragon train, and even some very large ships! In
the dark everything magically transforms into science
fiction as inventive minds make fantastic beings come
to life. Black Rock City is built from devoted playfulness.
At
sunset you can feel the pulse of the village as
more people come out of their shade where they've
been hiding from the 105 degree sun of the daytime
desert. They come out dressed up in creature-like
garbs, luminant, bizzare, and bodypainted, in platform
shoes, stilts, wigs and wings -extensions of
their own imagination- a parade of whimsical,
sometimes wild, always unique, and often scantily
clad people who walk and bike to view and be viewed-
each a manifestation of subconscious images, emerging
to be applauded and encouraged. |
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| Celebrate
the demise - the gasp at the awesome powerfulness of
the fire - as people throng toward the heart of the
fire, you're swept up in a counterclockwise circle
that draws you closer to the heat, feeling the beat
and hearing the samba - the impulse to more your hips
and feet along with the rest of the crowd - you know
not why - but it feels so good - you laugh at the absurd,
centaurs, silted billowing angel women. You took a
chance that you would be adventerous enough to participate,
and so you do, enchanted.
Merge
with the collective juice, people walking in droves,
smaller burns inside of drum circles, and live
stages entice you to come dance away the night
until dawn. Smells, laughter, fire dancing, music,
magic and poetry, compel you forward to cheer,
sing, and pound your feet with the beat. Gyrating
crowds are colorful in flashing and glowstick lights,
fanciful beings that evoke archetypal images of
Jungian dreams. This year's Opera is being performed
on a human-pulled ship with a trapeze act and worldbeat
percussion accompanying a Balinese monkey chant.
Particpiants have rehearsed for a few days and
create on the spot theatrics for all passers-by. |
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Spontaneity
will creep upon you as you pedal around town and make
many stops - curious about walk-through theme camps,
games, and lounges. You're invited in by a woman dressed
in a nurse costume, carrying a tray of strawberries.
She tells you she's a part of the church of bliss and
to come enjoy the bliss in your taste buds. Will you
participate?
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| There
are no observers in this festival of inner wonder and
outer delights. Many of the special effects world and
hi-tech nerds collaborate here, on a grand scale. They
play with the toys of their trade, inventing and constructing
their wildest imagination's possibilities, devoting
uncounted hours in preparation and giving endless opportunities
for others to enjoy the fruits of their mind games.
What a gift - to inspire and be inspired! |
|
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| Years
before, the Man and the Burn and the village was smaller,
the people camped every which way, there were no street
names nor Ranger Patrols. But with the critical mass
of crowds encroaching on its ability to stay amorphous,
Burningman succumbed to porta-potties and generators
dug into the ground, masked by plywood, supporting
the many hidden technologies in the desert. Have the
essential elements of the Burn been overshadowed by
its growth? Some old timers say, "It will never
be the same as when we were all more choatic and spontaneous.
We began to bond with each other and came to get away
from the crowds." But change here is as inevitable
as change for any anthropomorphic society. The needs
of the people call to be fulfilled, and more flock
to find the promised paradise. The magic that draws
the hungry heart to the flame is strong enough to have
created an entire movement. And so Burningman will
indeed never be the same. But it seems to be already
spinning off a variety of Burner events through out
the world, especially in San Francisco at the Flambe
Lounge. |
|
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The
festival was spawned as an anarchy and now is a consensus
based organization. Without a real promise to happen
next year, without a long term budget plan or underwriting
from big corporations, this grassroots economic miracle
is flying by the seat of its pants. The agreement not
to spoil anybody's good time is in place as long as
no one's toes get stomped on. As the numbers have grown,
more and more restrictive guidelines have begun to
take the omph out of the simplified approach that began
it.. Past problems in politics, medical emergencies,
and senseless acts of insane and altered minds have
made the BMOrganization set rules that hadn't been
needed before. Money, dogs and firearms are not welcome
here - an open heart, a willingness to help and an
abundance of survival skills are assets to bring. Volunteerism
is the key, participation is the mantra, and Leave
No Trace is the only rule. The Survival Guide to the
desert is published and drummed into potential attendees,
so that total preparation is undertaken - it can be
a wicked and tricky environment. Each person is admonished
to be self-responsible, ultimately allowing the playa
to return to desolate alkaline silt, caked and cracking,
supporting no life whatsoever. |
|
| Toni
De Marco, creator of L.A. based Global Dialogue,
says "It takes me back to a primal ancestral feeling
of dancing around the fire when time was standing still.
It is shocking, rewarding, beautiful, dramatic, changeable,
exciting and totally out of the realm of your daily
life." You must let go of your expectations and
allow it to happen to you. |
The
dark is not an obstacle - rather, the sky becomes an
embroidered velvet canvas on which jeweled colors dance
and prance in a circus atmosphere that is eerie, exciting,
weird, and altogether unusually enchanting. There are
diverse sculptures made of scavenged material, twisted
and combined in ways never before dreamed, and yet
seem completely right."The organism that has evolved
into today's Burningman is ready to spore and has already
created more of its own all over the world " says
Alan Lundell of the Bay area, a visionary videographer.
There's such a need in the culture, such a desire to
keep this sense of communal art alive, that people
have burning events throughout the year in anticipation
of next year's projects. In this way, ongoing participation
has created a growing community. |
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A
highly defined core group of organizers are committed
volunteers who enable it to continually morph itself
into the larger vision that comes directly from the
desires of those who attend. The leadership allows
freedom of expression with as little censorship as
it takes to maintain personal safety and public health
issues. So many old-timers have given a large portion
of their lives to creating this vision for others.
Some have taken time off since it has no seeable profit,
and others stay on with an inner fervor that tells
you why they are alive.
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| Exotic
and erotic beings? Is it dangerous to be here, pressing
past the normal social mores, to the edge of the envelope
that says - what's ok for me is ok to do as long as
it doesn't hurt you - ? Everything here is about freedom
of choice. Neighbor helps neighbor stay safe. Leave
no trace means that garbage and litter is quickly put
into places where it cannot blow away into the vast
ecosystem. The agreement to be in harmony with each
means that collaboration tends to occur as tent sits
go up and common shade areas are designed to welcome
visitors to the camp. Anger and accusations are replaced
with "are you ok buddy? Do you need some more
water? Have you had enough to eat today?
" Harmony tries to reign. As you walk from camp to
camp, you're invited to enjoy life together "come
in & enjoy our spinning platform. Have some massage
and be cooled with our water spray. Dress code? Come be
painted and create a new costume for your mood right now." Being
true with yourself. Following your own flow, being spontaneous
and letting go are all part of the show. Burningman makes
you release your agenda for the moment, and somehow, it
impresses the rest of your life.
"It's
all about loving, caring and sharing" says
Paul Ramana Dass Silbey of the Living Ecstacy
Institute in Marin County. "It has evolved
from being a survivalist act of personal freedom
and anger release, into being a very goddess loving,
gifting economy. It is the ultimate adult playground
to become in touch with and celebrate one's inner
child with other inner children in a vast community." |
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| Clothing
optional is definitely a big part of the freedom of
choice, after all, it is EXTREMELY HOT! Nudity happens
because people are aware that their bodies can be a
fundamental resource of how they Are an ART experience,
just by being a human. Bodypainting is available all
over, and there are specialty Theme camps for painting
breasts, creating pasties, body hair trimming and accessories
that reveal. Larger risks are taken because the atmosphere
of judgement towards naked flesh has been suspended
in lieu of letting it all hang out, literally. Beauty
is in the eyes of the one baring the skin, and so no
tells you to cover up.
The
Critical Tits Bike Ride had its largest attendance
ever this 7th year, with what I estimate to have
been around 1500 women, more or less. Herein lies
the intrinsic gift of showing off - as the women
paraded by in a continuous stream, in droves, in
clumps, in lumps and curves, in every shape and
color of tit imaginable, the men's eyes gasped
and gaped and glazed over in utter adoration. Finally,
we got a chance to show how each unique set of
knockers was totally wonderfully, marvelous, different,
And yet all One... The feminine was unveiled, and
then we had a rip roaring cocktail party with great
dance music and men serving cold hors d'oeuvres
in formal wear!
The
hottest topic on any chat room, any tv show, any
magazine, is sex. Of course, it is a hotter topic
in an adult atmosphere, where the players can push
the envelope not only of art, but of artful sex.
Sex happens as fantasy, as exploration, as consenting
adults willing to negotiate, offer enticements, and
otherwise try their art at persuasion. Sex topics
are a high percentage, and without the usual constraints,
there is plenty of room to try out ideas and situations
that perhaps could not happen elsewhere. I personally,
as an authentic tantra educator, gave a free talk
on Intimate Touch Dynamics as part of the ongoing
educational presentations of the Women's Temple.
People
are more willing to experiment, and know they won't
be hampered by the regular mores of, say, Disneyland.
It is indeed adult entertainment, altho there are
families that attend, and occasionally teens. But
it is made up of people usually OVER 20 all the way
to 90, I imagine. Not everyone who goes is obligated
nor pressured to indulge in anything particular.
Rather, because the whole event is based on freedom
of choice, this is a place where any and all choices
can be considered, as long as no one gets hurt. True
self-responsibility is essential in order to feel
good about any experience. Do people have
sex a lot, talk about it, play about it, flaunt it
and flirt a lot? Yes. and that's their private business.
Is it a free-for-all? No. Each person has signed
up to be a participant, not a victim. |
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| Burningman
looks like a moonscape full of innovative toys, unusual
devices, laser lights, otherworldly beings, and sci-fi
experimental experiences in which you're invited to
participate. It's as though it is one giant crazy house
in an amusement park that one not only walks through,
but lives in for the entire festival! The structures,
generators, technology and volunteerism that it takes
for all of this to come off logistically is staggeringly
expensive - they never turn a profit. |
Is
there room for love here? As Justeen Ward, founder
of A Class Act Entertainment in Studio City
tells me - "it's a blend of Love that's not found
many places - Agape unconditional love which sees the
divine in each person, and Eros which celebrates sensuality,
pleasure and human beingness." Instead of have-not-ism
and theft, there is open exchange and trust - bicycles
are left unlocked, tents left unzipped, coolers opened
by the street so that neighbors can take of their abundance.
Here, of all places, exists a gifting society that
actually works. Burningman is a legend within your
spirit - you burn the flame in order to return to paradise
- playing with the inner fire reminds us to participate,
celebrate, and find our freedom of expression. If you're
lucky, Burningman lives all year round.
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©2002
Marci Javril, all rights reserved
(This
appeared in
"WHOLE LIFE TIMES" OCTOBER 2002 issue as
an edited version)
This
page constructed
& designed by Paul Rother http://www.paulrother.com
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