Burning Man 2008 and beyond...

We said we wouldn't go. We did. We had a blast. We were slaves to the royalty of Ice for the week. That is, this year, we volunteered and sold ice. There are two things you can buy at Burning Man, coffee and ice. Selling ice was not hard, actually, if you can multiply by 3 you can do it. What was challenging was fighting my desire to serve, to fight the instinct to always wanting to be customer service conscious that is part of the default world of capitalist mental model. There at Black Rock City, it doesn't matter. There is no competition and there is no reason to "sell more". No need for growth, just need to survive. So once I let go of the panic of how the "customers" were feeling for standing in line for so long. (What better things to they have to do on the playa?) I started to have a lot of fun. Regardless, it was all a lot of fun. Much of that had to do with the pleasure of "working" with some of my closest friends. What better thing can you ask for but to be in an alternate world, living, working, exploring, dealing, and being with some of your closest friends. Who know you, who will let you melt down and pick you up at the same time, who call bullshit on bullshit and ask you the hard questions. I could not have asked for a better burn for that reason.

As with very burn, the default world calls us back. So here we are home again and like every year, there is a piece of the playa, an aspect of the experience that I want to bring home. This year it is that feeling I had being in community with people I love. Perhaps call it an authentic community. Of course easier said than done, and the hang ups and bullshit of day to day life keep us from being this way and being true to ourselves and each other. However it is something I aspire to and my new year's resolution from this year's burn.