Burning Man!
Burning Man through Virgin’s Eyes!
Yep! We did it! We attended Burning Man as virgin burners! Not only that, we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary while there! Was it extreme? - YES! Was it hot? - YES! Was it dusty? - YES! But, was it worth it? - ABSOLUTELY YES!
So, why in the world did we choose to attend Burning Man - what was the draw for us? First, we were invited by good friends and we knew that we would be well taken care of. They gave us all the details ahead of time, warned us about the alkaline Playa dust, the heat and that we would need to be radically self sufficient.
But what about all of the good stuff? They told us about the amazing community, the fantastic lights and fireworks, the spiritual essence of the Temple, the beautiful art, the rock’n fun camps, and so much more. We met people from all over the world who traveled to the U.S.A. for the sole purpose of attending Burning Man.
Burning Man has 10 Principles that I will share here as I feel like they put to rest some of the untruths about Burning Man
Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on their inner resources.
Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.
Is Burning Man for everyone? In all reality, no… But, what we brought home was our desire to be more inclusive, accepting, participatory, giving and self reliant. All good principles to embrace!
We absolutely love getting out there and meeting new people. We encourage all of our Mountain Beaches friends to shop small, shop local and to always be on the lookout to give a helping hand to those in need!
~Tomorrow is Never Promised~