Why I go to Burning Man - Because it's made me a better human.

Burning Man 2020

The man (doesn't) burn tomorrow

Since 2003 I’ve been getting so much more than just t-shirts from the culture of Burning Man.

As I reflect on these past 17 years, a journey of growth and exploration, I count myself fortunate to have been a part of such a wonderful culture and community.  It’s been an amazing journey.  Thank you.

It is through this community that I came to understand these values - The 10 Principles.  Radical Inclusion, Leave No Trace, Radical Self-Reliance, Participation, Immediacy, Decommidification, Civic Responsibility, Radical Expression, Communal Effort, Gifting + Consent.  

These values were not taught to me by my parents, or my conservative midwest upbringing/culture, and certainly wasn’t taught at school or university, or the job market.  In fact, I don’t think these are demonstrated (and thus acculturated) like this anywhere else in the world.  Burning Man truly is a beautiful sandbox of trying out these different “ways of being” than the “default world”.

Burning Man (the culture) is directly responsible for honing these skills over time so that I could embody them, and demonstrate them through my action, speech and behavior.  Through this practice of the 10 principles (and a meditation & mindfulness practice started in 2002), I started to see the shared humanity of us all.  All just human beings, chasing joy and running from suffering as best we can.  Each flawed or traumatized in different ways and each simply “doing our best”.  Trying to make our way on this pale blue dot.

These 10 Principles of Burning Man aren’t very different from the Humanist 10 Commitments of Critical Thinking, Ethical Development, Peace and Social Justice, Service and Participation, Altruism, Humility, Environmentalism, Global Awareness, Responsibility, Empathy + Forgiveness and Grace, and Charitable Interpretation.

In fact I find that many of these values overlap and compliment each other in a “virtuous cycle” where participating, with Peace and Social Justice & Ethical Development in mind, while engaging with Civic Responsibility is a wonderful way to “show up” in the world.  When you start working these values into your day to day life, your perspective starts to change & improve.  Your view of the entire world and your place in it just shifts.

And the strange thing is that we don’t really explicitly TEACH these values to our youth through public education.  How explicitly were we taught these values and how often did we discuss them?  How often do we keep them in view as we are making decisions throughout our lives?  

The amazing thing is that we are each repositories of this knowledge and it’s up to each of us to seek out more knowledge and grow into the best human we can be.  Up to each of us to “plant the seeds of knowledge” in the belief that they will one day sprout.  And up to each of us to help out our fellow humans through compassion and demonstrating a more clear understanding of the nature of reality (or the reality of nature).

Be Well,

Buddha/Ron/ZenPuppy