With Burning Man 2008 now finished, our thoughts should turn in earnest to 2009’s Burning Man convergence. To that end, I am excerpting the eloquent Hawkmeister’s thoughts on this unique experience, for those who did not catch them in their original context:
This event is held in one of earth’s most inhospitable regions. The environment contains no true soils, surface or ground water, vegetation, wildlife, threatened or endangered species, paleontology, waste material, anything we typically think of as “wilderness,” or cultural resources. No farmland, floodplain, wetland…not even any noxious weeds. It is blank. Empty. Severe. A vast alkali plain. And once a year, people come together here and construct a city. For one week. And afterwards, they clean it up, leaving no trace.
Your survival in this environment is in doubt. Unless you take personal responsibility for it. And wonder of wonders, people do. Not only do they survive, they come in the thousands and build incredible art displays on a scale to match the environment. They thrive in a place where they are allowed to be whomever and whatever they want to be. Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? Ask these questions in this environment, and they all boil down to the ultimate question:
What do I do now?
Doesn’t this seem like the perfect place to state a goal? To cheer others who are working towards attaining their goals? Doesn’t this seem like the perfect place to live the 43T ethos?
Converge. Create. Cremate.
