Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeke
This debate reminds me of listening to a great album on a really nice system at just the right volume as opposed to going to a concert where the group does not play nearly as well, don't have all the studio facilities, even if they wanted to duplicate their final and best mix, and the crowd is so rowdy and noisy that you can't possibly hear the original work.
My point being a bit along Jeff's theme that the gathering takes on a group mentality and much of the nuance is lost on most. I'm sure there are people that get it and are changed by BM. Last concert I went to I think it was less about the art than it was about the event.
Both sides of this discussion have some merit.
I've never been so there's that. I have read about it and I think I can assert that it has changed. Personally IDT the change has been for the best. That seems to be the consensus.
So what are you guys talking about? Last year or 20 years ago? Two different things.
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its compounding by the fact that burning man is itself, very very hard to explain to people. people literally write books on the topic. so people have a hard time putting there finger on it, and relating to it, esp if they have no experience with it. i have a lot of experience with burning, and i struggle to put into words what its actually about and what it means to me, and why.
and this is compounded by the fact that burning philosophy is fundamentally about how no two people have the same experience, or meaning from a burn. so even if i could tell you exactly what i think and feel about burning, that would only be my limited experience with it. it would not be a universal experience.
its not a music festival, its not a rave, its not a drug or sex party, its not a mad max simulator, its not about environmentalism, its not a competition etc.
it can have some elements of these things, but its not about maximizing anything.
and there in lies the reason why i love burning. it asks me a question for which i have no real response to ... if there isnt a competition to measure your performance against, if you didnt need to do anything to survive, if you didnt have to go to work everyday .... what would you do? burning man, for me, is a simulator for a freedom that the real world can never present, because in the real world we have to work, we have to do the dishes, we want to see how fast of a driver we are, we want to go head to head into the next braking zone and find out who is better, we want to design a machine that works better, cheaper and more reliability than the competition, we gotta show up on time for our music lessons ... and burning man asks me to put all that aside, and say ... so what? what are you going to do? you don't have to do anything at all. what are you going to do about that? there isnt a puzzle or skill to solve or maximize. there is just choosing how to exist without constraint. what would i wear? what would i do? who would i spend time with? what would we do together? what would we do when we meet someone new? what would we do if presented with a piece of art? an activity? a different piece of art? a different activity? what would happen if we did this thing, or encountered this art or activity in a different mental state? how does this persons encounter with it, differ from my own? why?
now, that is just one person's experience with burning. that is not a universal experience with burning. that is just the value it brings to me.
and so it means a lot of different things, to a lot of different people. its a rorschach test. you see in it what you want to see in it.
if you want to only see a bunch of poser influencers making catchy media content getting ripped on alla the fyre festival ... you absolutely can have that experience. and that is 100% valid and real.
but if you want to, and are willing to see more ... there is so much more. and its not on social media, because its inside you.