[PREV - CRITIC_OF_THE_BURN] [TOP]
September 10, 2006
I don't put a lot of energy into
thinking about the meaning of the
Ritual itself: the burning of a
gigantic, nominally male, effigy
out in the desert -- I tend to I like Kevin Kelley's insight
assume it doesn't really have much on this: Burning Man has all
meaning. the trappings of a religious
ritual, without a religion to
go with it.
I've heard a number of people
expound on "What the Man Means
to Me", though:
(1) Mardi Grai/Lent: the burning
of the man is the embrace of the
party-party spirt, followed by
it's destruction; then a return
to a more serious existence.
(2) Radical self-destruction.
The Man embodies everything about A quip I'm always looking
yourself that you need to destroy for an occasion to use:
in order to move forward.
Burning Man is about
radical self-deception.
I once heard David Best give a
talk at Burning Man at one of
the "Temples" he designed. He
spoke about the the see-sawing
reputations of artists:
first you're unknown,
then you're inexperienced,
then you're promising,
then you're too commercial,
then you're a genius,
then you're overrated,
then you're an idiot...
He concluded:
"That's not going to
happen with this.
Because we're going
to burn it."
The flame lives
only in the moment.
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