Why I go to Burning Man

People from all areas of my life ask why I go to burning man so I wrote down some things:


I go to Burning Man because being out on the playa gives me perspective.



I spend entirely too much time in the "real world". I have a life at home where I keep my family and most of my stuff. I have a small, German-made world with wheels where I keep most of my CD's and spend a lot of time on the phone. I have another world where I keep work and customers. In those spaces, I am someone. I have the power to change the climate. I can manipulate the environment and when my worlds wear out, I will get new ones. The playa is the ultimate out of the box experience. In our world, we are in total control. On the playa, we are at the mercy of God.

It's on the playa that I realize my finiteness. It's only when I'm on the playa...so flat that I can see a storm coming, feel it engulf me, and watch it pass...that I realize that life happens to me much more than I can ever happen to it. Staring up at a star filled sky, I realize how small I am and how big the Universe is. For all of the control that I think I exert, it's all on the micro level....nothing I control means much in the great plan.

On the playa I find my place. It makes my need for God much more evident.


I go to Burning Man because creativity points to a Creator.





What is it within the heart of a man or woman that leads them to create? Why must we augment our reality with our perceptions of it? That thing that has driven us to scratch the outline of a woolly mammoth on the wall of a cave, that has pushed us to build pyramids, paint pictures, and build flame throwing Dance Dance Revolution machines...it is evidence of an artistic drive that keeps us from leaving well enough alone. The animal kingdom has no such drive. Never in history has a yak shown interest in sculpture or a chicken so much has strewn straw in a intentional pattern. Why is mankind so different? What is it that is stamped upon our spirit that causes every culture in the world to spawn painters, poets, and sculptors? Inuit or Slav, Semite or Anglo, one cannot find a culture in the world with no appreciation for artistic expression. Theologians would call it 'the image of God'.


The story of Genesis describes the Spirit of God as brooding over the chaos, and He acted on it. He said "I can do better," and He did. His artwork incorporated elements of color, shape, texture, sound, force, and life itself. Then, from the elements He created, He created a composite, and blew life into it. It became him, and He was in him. Since that day, he has been driven to create just as He did, and so we create...because on our spirit resides a Creative Force. I find it strangely comforting that some people who display their incredible talent out on the playa aren't even aware that they are displaying God's creativity by building their masterpieces.



I go to Burning Man because gifting and community looks a lot like God's idea.





It doesn't surprise me that gifting is taking an increasingly large role at Burning Man. In a large concentration of seekers - people aware of their own spiritual journey - it only makes sense to me that the image of God that has been stamped on humans from the beginning of time would manifest itself, and that in the act of receiving, some would find more than the gift itself. the seeker mentality is evident in almost everyone we meet at Burning Man, they are all trying to fill that God shaped hole in their lives with something, be it drugs, sex or community. It encourages me to see this drive in people and if I can make a difference by being kind and accepting to just one of them, it makes all of the unseemly things there worth passing by.

I've learned much in the years I've been associated with Burning Man. Some of it may surprise you. For example: While I have a deep seated sense of right and wrong, Burners aren't interested in it. My sense of values cannot be forced upon people. All I have to offer is life and experience...and if I can show them life, they may be interested in my values. Given a choice of A, B, or C, most Burners will pick D (all of the above). Creative people refuse to be pigeonholed into given answers. They value the journey of discovery as much as the arrival at fact. In these two characteristics, I find truths that the church must understand in order to be relevant. First, that people cannot be argued into a system of faith, only drawn in by what they see in others. This is why the Bible tells us that people are drawn to God by His kindness. Second, that if Christianity is going to appeal to people of the future, then the church has to make room for people in process of seeking.


Finally, I go because I have something to offer.





It didn't take me long to acquire the burner's disdain towards spectators. Consuming social capital while contributing nothing to the greater good of the whole, they are societal parasites. We received an incredible variety of things on the playa. Our neighbors made us homemade burritos. A half naked man with a flaming tuba favored us with a song. A stranger in the heart of the desert offered us a Popsicle from a mobile tiki bar. I can show these people God's love and acceptance and enrich my heart and theirs by receiving their gifts.

I go to Burning Man because I see so many people looking for something, I see a chance for me to re-examine myself and I see so much energy that reaffirms to me the creative force of God and that he passed that drive on to us. This is true weither you call him God, Allah, goddes or simply the Universe.

Yes, there is bad there along with the good, but that is true with everywhere you look in the world, people are just free to truly express their inner selves at Burning Man. Jesus called us to be in the world, to love and live and laugh in the world with everyone who lives here and I choose to include this experience and these people in my life!

And that's why I go to the Burn

Portions of this rant were inspired by Randy Bohlender from Vineyard Community Church.