It was after the Man burned in anti-climatic slow motion, that I found myself lost in a field of art cars, awaiting the next burn. When the air raid siren came on and invaded our nervous systems I felt like either fleeing or strangling whoever was responsible for that terrible noise that seemed like some sort of mind-control experiment. My friend Free and I rode our bikes to 2 O'clock and watched the spectacle that stopped all traffic in its steps. In front of "El Circo", the fidora with pheasant feather hat society stood hand in hand, Shiela Chandra playing in the background.
As all traffic stopped to watch this 4th of July style firework show, I wondered, are we just here for the next burn, the next entertainment.? And the words to Nirvana's song rang through my head, "here we are now, entertain us! I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us!" I understand that the point of that oil tower, with statues in worship, was to display our worship for oil. But when the 300 foot mushroom cloud of burning jet fuel filled the Black Rock desert with heat, I could only think so what? OK, impressive explosion? What's the point?!
Indeed, what's the point to all this madness? Is Black Rock City the land of free radical self-expression or a hedonistic free-for-all for spring breakers and California scenesters? (This is not to discount the clowns, performers, freaks, artists and all the beautiful individuals etc.) The obvious question remains: is Burning Man losing its original intention? Is that why an old burner burnt the man early!?
How much did "Green Man" 2007 contribute to Wal-Mart's sale of glow sticks, wet wipes, and Chinese bicycles? Should B.M. rather be called "Burning Man" because the ring around the Man's ass is red and sore from our yearly copulations with him? Until once upon a year, we revel in the glory of his burn, only to return to him in the cities and begin our prostrations and our mantras to the true green ones that make it all possible.
It's almost like a B-grade horror movie called "Invasion of the Howards in Psychedelic Blisslandia." The Howards walk in stunned, zombie, T.V.-mind trance thinking, "How weird!" as the freak show goes on.[1]
And so I found myself again at a Psy-trance party on 10 O'clock Sunday morning, where the sunrise surpassed the lights, the sculptures and the fire. There was no pretense; we were just us, dancing at sunrise. And as the day went on, we became a thriving organism in the desert, enduring the heat of the sun and the threat of dust storm. The Organism fed itself fruit and water and enhancements. It sustained itself through sleep deprivation in the hot day. True joy and sublime movement filled the dance floor until late Sunday afternoon. It seemed like we weren't too concerned about getting laid; but a different sexual experience arose in the matrix of sound, Earth, and bodies. In all the beauty and chaos, this is what really made sense. That's just my experience and I know that there must have been other Organisms on the plateau of the Black Rock desert.
Beyond all observations, I have full appreciation for what B.R.C. is and it's hard to believe that it's even aloud to happen in the age of the Patriot Act, the Rave Act, and the Bush administration. Thank the good Lord for the whore of the state of Nevada and the people that make it happen.
So the questions is this, is it possible to create Burning Man-esque communities that move towards green, sustainability. How can we take what we learned on the playa and transform it into a reality? Sustainability of course is a relative word, however, it seems appropriate at this moment in human civilization to operate from and with this shift in consciousness that many of us are experiencing.
Somewhere between the Rainbow and Black Rock City, there exists a middle ground. New or existing communities which operate in a similar spirit. A network of communities which trade, sustain themselves, as well as gain from the monetary system. Such a community would include art, sculpture, music, dance, and free expression (in mutual respect), in a sustainable environment. I see natural yet futuristic dwellings with common kitchens, gardens, and green houses, the architectural plans are in our heads.
Burning man is based on autonomous self-organization, or ordered anarchy. There is an infrastructure that makes it work. There is at the same time an anything goes attitude and a common moral. But what is a common moral and where does it come from?
A common moral is an understanding which stems from the realization that we are ultimately a unified Being. In all of our individuality, old souls , new souls, waking or sleeping, our energy and consciousness is connected to the same source. The traditional religions and institutions have suppressed consciousness and made us to feel separate from each other and the universe. Alienated and seemingly alone we seek other powers and authorities to create order in our lives.
Autonomous Self-organization occurs when individuals experience some form of Self-realization. Empowered as such, they no longer require the dictations of social institutions and the puritanical nature of traditional doctrines. A new culture emerges, a creative culture. Its nature is spiritual; however, it does not require the dogmatic religions of the old world, however romantic. Ancient wisdom itself is transcendental of time and requires no dogmatic rituals to validate it. Therefore, new rituals emerge in free-form. This is the bliss of the dance floor, the new fire rituals, or the sculptural monuments to nothing in particular, etc.
The communes of the 1960's have failed for the most part. Except for a few, such as the Lama foundation in Taos, New Mexico. Within this county, we have fully off-the-grid communities. We have solar powered Earthships (tire houses), straw bails, rammed earth, pumice-crete, adobes, and strange off-the-grid manifestations that live up to no building codes. Taos seems to be one of the last places in the country where there is relative freedom, where it doesn't quite feel like a police state or a backwoods red-neck state. (For instance, Earthships are designed to catch rain water off the roof for indoor use; in the state of Colorado it is illegal to catch rain water off your roof because rain water is considered the property of the state!) It would be possible to create a B.M. style community in Taos; we just seem to lack the resources that the bay area has. I can only imagine what I could build with the 200 grand that someone dropped on their B.M. camp.
In any case, I also pose the question, are there other such places out there? In northern California, Oregon, Hawaii? Are Utopias being created? Is there more than just growing the green to make the green? Or is it time to collaborate and buy land in Costa Rica, before we enter into a cashless, microchip, surveillance society on the brink of martial law, and forever at war with the Middle East? The Matrix is quickly growing and as some of us awaken, the Howards are taking over in the flavor of a 1950's zombie movie.
The concept of a Burning Man-esque community is difficult, in that, Burning man is designed as a temporary manifestation. Like a Tibetan sand mandala, it is created and then dispersed into the fires and the dust storms of the desert. We have our B.M. decompressions in the city and our regional burns, but can we take it a step further? Or are we just simply riding the train towards the inevitable crisis of our time? Perhaps not in full swing, it has begun.
1. The concept of the Howards came from "The Adventures of Dr. P. Nut."
Steve Harkless
Last modified: December 25, 2007
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