The Soul of Burning Man is Freedom…
Quinn (aka Ghost Dancer) is Burning Man’s Nevada Properties Manager, which includes the year-round oversight of Burning Man’s Ranch (our staging and production facility), located north of the event site. Apropos of this year’s Art Theme, Fertility 2.0, we’d like to share this wonderful piece he wrote:
"Free!" Photograph by Betty Emirzian, 2009
Beyond judgments and dogma, Burning Man is at its core simply a stage of opportunity for people of all the world’s cultures to come together for a single week of the year to explore, exchange and express ourselves without the shackles of fear within an arena free of judgment, free of repression, free of self denial in an open free environment which supports and encourages that very intention.
For 7 short days; some 50,000 human beings join together in peaceful self expression, passionate self exploration and joyful giving of themselves to their fellow man without expectation of return or personal gain. This organic stage of opportunity for potential enlightened self experience is unique in the world and it happens but for a single week right here in our small sleepy little town of Gerlach.
Long ago the Constitution of the United States was drafted, many wars have been fought and many lives tragically sacrificed to protect your unalienable Right to Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness and the Right to “freely express yourself” while doing no harm to others. Yet there are many who would deny you these Rights or who simply choose to live life in a self-imposed prison of conditioned fear while sitting brain dead in front of the Television vegetating on what Paris Hilton’s wearing today.
Not the Burner…
These human beings of ecstatic spirit and a lust for creative living who discover and attend the Burning Man event are not content to just sit and watch TV nor passively accept whatever soulless doctrine is currently being spoon fed by the media. No my friends, Burners are in my observation the Peaceful Warriors of today’s potential humanity who are inspired by confronting the lifeless face of the mundane, and who burn within to awaken and live life to the fullest with an open fearless heart passionately driven to create and explore meaningful and lasting relationships with their fellow man in harmony with the natural world which supports us all.
As the gate opens and the people join together to spontaneously create Black Rock City, each and every ongoing moment is a completely unique creative expression unlike the moment before or after it, each person is more clearly seen and accepted for who they truly are through the process of contributing their individual perspective while simultaneously giving birth to more and more beauty and art inspiring deeper and deeper self reflection for both the individual and the collective experience. Basically it’s freedom of expression giving birth to greater levels of freedom of expression and mutual respect as a result, for 7 days and nights.
At least that’s how I see it.
You may call me a dreamer, I hope some day you’ll join me…
Thank you, Quinn!
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Tags: black rock city, creativity, freedom
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January 28th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
You may say that I’m a dreamer… well I’m not the only one.
I didn’t have half as much hope in humanity until i went the first time.
I am so proud of us.
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January 29th, 2012 at 8:03 am
Dreamer? Quite the contrary: Burning Man is where I feel alive. I thank you all, BORG, volunteers, and participants, for that.
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January 30th, 2012 at 10:58 am
Gee, I dunno, Paris Hilton’s wardrobe IS pretty important. :-)
Way of the Peaceful Warrior is a good book
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February 1st, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Burningman has been a pivitol influence on my lifestyle and how I treat others around me. It is more than an event, it permeates society for the better. You too can experience this amazing enlightenment if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket, or rich enough to scalp one.
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February 3rd, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Hard to read this while the ticket situation is still so up in the air. I’d like BMorg to focus efforts on how to fix this mess and ensure we can all have this experience again.
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February 5th, 2012 at 9:43 am
it really sucks that this would be my first burning man, im still gonna try to get my tickets but its kind of unfair that all my friends im traveling with got picked in the raffle and i didnt so now i gotta hope to get one or ill be left out which better not happen
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February 6th, 2012 at 10:59 am
why do you say freedom. you have rules;>> where is the freedom. whenever you have authorities governing your rights and watching your every move how can we be FREE. burning man is BULL SHIT!! with the lottery system and more rules to follow every year. i hope burning man fails and hardly anyone goes!!
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February 7th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Somehow, someway, burning man needs to expand to include everyone. Maybe 2 independant sites on the playa? The Who could pack a stadium with 100,000!!
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February 7th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
i am dreaming right there with ya, all day and night.
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February 8th, 2012 at 8:34 am
Ditto
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February 11th, 2012 at 11:56 am
I think it’s interesting that the author of this piece refers to BM as being spontaneously created when right now the organization and burners everywhere are complaining that many of the big established theme camps didn’t get enough tickets in the lottery to come back in 2012. How is it spontaneous to have theme camps and so called tribes bringing back the same camps year after year? That sounds pretty rote to me. And that familiarity and routine seems to be what people want to maintain based on all the bitching I’m seeing on all the online forums regarding the lotto and based on BMORG’s response to said bitching.
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February 13th, 2012 at 7:37 am
I just would like to point out that when the author states,
“Long ago the Constitution of the United States was drafted, many wars have been fought and many lives tragically sacrificed to protect your unalienable Right to Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness…”
he is completely wrong. The declaration of independence states that, not the constitution, therefore it is not a right at all. The 5th Amendment does protect our right to “life, liberty or property” but not happiness.
Know “the man” if you actually want to fight “him”.
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February 15th, 2012 at 1:13 am
People’s true colors show when things aren’t going smoothly. I sympathize with the ticket situation, and with the balance organizers are trying to strike. Let me suggest looking at this as an opportunity to tell the true friends from the (I forget the exact expression..) fair-weather friends and letting the spirit of burning man rise out of the tumult like a phoenix from the ashes. Kindness goes both ways, and burners should be the first ones to act out of that kindness and humility. Grievances and constructive criticisms are great, but whining, bitching, and selfishness run counter to what burning man is all about. Happy valentine’s day by the way, haha.
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February 16th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
To Dom: Feb 15th at 1:13am
Amen brother!
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February 18th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
In regards to Bob’s comment that we pack in 100,000 or so… there is a fragile desert environment out there, as well as local residents living their lives, along with a limited road system. It is not feasible to pack in 100,000. (I certainly don’t want to be in the middle of that, yikes!)
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February 18th, 2012 at 3:11 pm
If you missed a ticket, don’t worry about it. There is a lot of stuff to do other than burning man… other places to travel to, work on a different creative endeavor, make a difference in the world, volunteer with or give your money to real charities. Having been before, I have the perspective: burning man is not the only thing to do in world. perspective.
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February 18th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
I just read in the sfbg that the Black Rock Dept of Mobility services disabled attendees, and it is run by attendees volunteering to do this. This camp takes disabled attendees around the city, using acquired wheelchairs, golf carts and art cars with lifts. The camp founder said only 3 of their 27 camp members have tickets. If they can’t provide their voluntary services, (if they can’t get tickets), and it may put the event out of compliance with Americans with Disability Act.
BM LLC and community needs to recognize the vital services provided voluntarily by attendees. The fact that this crucial service is being excluded due to the lottery system shows how out of touch BM LLC is with its own community.
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February 22nd, 2012 at 11:34 am
Yea dreamer dream on.
My indivdual perspective is that your a loser sucked in to BMorg for slave labor or
really low wages.
Get a life nothing lasts for ever.BMorg already are throwing you under the bus from all your fuck ups.
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