Tag: Burning Man

To ‘Burn’ is to become an agent of open possibility

To ‘Burn’ is to become an agent of open possibility, creating a liminal space where something amazing can happen and anyone can join. It doesn’t matter why you do it, what you think is happening, or what you want to get out of it. You may not even get what you expect out of it, because you’ve given up acting as an agent of social control and have instead invited everyone to play: you created the game but it’s not your game. It’s a gift.

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To Burn is to act as an agent of possibility: creating a space where something amazing can happen, letting anyone join, and then cleaning up after it when it’s done.

via Burning Blog » Blog Archive » Who the hell are “Burners,” anyway?

Meditation on the Path of the Guardian

In 2010, I was sitting in the El Dorado canyon of the Temple of Flux on Friday night. I wasn\’t there as a guardian, but as a participant visitor. All week long, I had felt a strong  resonance with the energy in that particular part of the temple, and that evening I felt comfortable enough to open my mind and heart to let out whatever needed to be released.
That was the night that Megatropolis burned. As I leaned my back against the temple walls, it felt as though the structure itself were breathing with each passing pressure wave created by the fuel-air explosions. That was strangely comforting to me to think that the temple was literally breathing with me – in and out.
I sat in meditation for a while. Eventually I felt a wave of emotion rise up out of my core, and I began to weep. I wept for the passing of my grandparents. I wept for the sorrow expressed by countless others on the walls of the temple. I wept for the beauty inscribed by the blessed souls who brought light to the temple.
The most beautiful part of that night for me was when an anonymous gentleman sat a few feet from me on the bench and began to play a comforting melody on a double ocarina. He played for the longest time. Was it for me? Was it for him? It didn\’t matter. It was pure love. When he was done, I opened my eyes and gave him a heartfelt “thank you”. He simply said, “you\’re welcome”. That\’s all that needed to be said.
That experience cemented for me the sacredness of the temple ground. That absolutely blank patch of desert that is the locus spiritus for so many. Not simply because an artist built us a physical structure, and not only because so many people exposed their pain and desires there, but because the sum of the two is exponentially greater than the sum of its parts. Space, time, and spirit collide at the temple like no other place on earth (as far as I\’ve experienced), and that\’s what keeps drawing me back home.

Temple of Juno – Burning Man 2012

It was announced last week that David Best and the Temple Crew would be designing and constructing the temple for Burning Man 2012. The project is titled the Temple of Juno and the first drawing is posted below.

Temple of Juno

“The temple is returning back to the traditional style of temple that our community is familiar with, that we have built over the years as a temple crew.

The temple grounds will incorporate a large central temple building sitting within a 150\’x150\’ walled courtyard. The courtyard is accessible by four entrances, one on each of the temple sides. Benches line the exterior space, and surround the temple. The scale of the central temple building is smaller than the last years of the temples, but this will be the most detailed temple we have built. The central building will have altar space, 3 occupied floors, and a tower. Intricately cut wooden panels and shapes will cover the courtyard walls as well as the interior space and the altars.

The temple\’s large enclosed exterior space, along with its interior structure and altar space is intended to address the needs of our community, to reflect and meditate in private.”

source: http://templecrew.org/juno.html

You have to improvise at Burning Man. Contingencies come up. Your tent blew onto the roof of the neighbors’ RV. You forgot clean underwear. Somebody lost his liger.

You have to improvise at Burning Man. Contingencies come up. Your tent blew onto the roof of the neighbors’ RV. You forgot clean underwear. Somebody lost his liger.
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