Burning Man - Rites of Passage 2011

It's been over a month since we left the playa. In some sense I wish I was writing this just a week after while the full experience in still crystal clear in the mind. What I've been told is we only obtain so much of what we see and hear after every experience. Burning man is can be such an overload of all the senses that it is almost impossible to describe. I'd like to share my experience and what I've taken with me one month later after the burn. More or less describe decompressing after the burn. Next year I will be sure to bring a journal to describe each day.

So many people ask "What is Burning Man"?

Burning Man really cannot be categorized or labeled. If someone was to put burning man into one perspective it would create expectations and an attitude toward the experience whether it be good or bad. To me burning man is an opportunity to let go of all your barriers. In life I was told if we have a certain attitude and expectation of something, what we allow in us is only 2% of what we hear see or are told. The other 98% we leave outside just because it doesn't fit our ideology. Just as life, burning man is a mystery. It's an experience. What happens on the playa can't be explained. I've come to think most of the people who come to burning man shut down all barriers and allow all 100% of what they do, say and hear and take that back to the outside world and retain some of the magic.

The experience is an opportunity for an anyone to express their creative freedom. From the music, mind blowing art, meditation, yoga camps, gifting without asking for anything back, self expression in forms that with a barriers in the outside world someone wouldn't understand. Self reliance in a whole new form. I was once told so many people say "I'll take care of you, if you can take care of me" but found later how selfish that was. Why not "I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me."  If you work hard on yourself and become self reliant then how much more value you bring to the community, to the experience and the ones around. What a different concept of thinking but burning man opened the sense of that the harder you work on yourself to be reliant, the more you can donate back to the community. But to explain burning man is impossible. It different for everyone.

Rites of Passage

What a perfect theme to start off the new year! The beginning of the new, to let go, to start all over, or to begin for the first time. For some their Rites of Passage were new careers, new relationships, a child born, moving to a new city, a new way of thinking, new friends or even a loved one passing away. It was such a great broad term that anyone can relate to it even at its most simplistic form.

Since the last burn I came back so in tune to my inner self I made it a personal goal after this year's burn I would take off and travel. I made the decision to leave everything behind, shut down my business, donate and sell all my stuff. To leave everything I've created in California behind to start a new journey. To me there was nothing that was going to stop me. It was imprinted in my mind, set in stone. I was going to start doing what I truly are passionate about. For me it is to go and travel the world and experience everything that life has to offer. Why can't life be one giant burning man experience. No obligations, no bills, no itinerary, complete freedom and just being. Living in the present. That what has made such an impact on how I view things now. To live in the present moment and enjoy all that is around at that moment and take as much of it in. When your on the playa you never have any concept of time, days, and very few obligations if any by choice. Just being in the present, enjoying all the art, music, people and the emotions around you. What a perfect theme to start the beginning of a new beginning. As I'm writing this blog I'm currently in Laos living my Rites of Passage. If someone was to say the playa doesn't have an impact on ones life or that its similar to a music festival, I'd have to contest and strongly disagree.

Temple of Transition

The Temple of Transition. What an amazing piece of Art! Another piece of the playa that cannot be explained. Whether its Love, Anger, Grief, Joy, Sorrow, Jubilation, Consecration, Celebration, Compassion. Confrontation, Sharing, Daring, Exposure, Soul, Spirit, Introspection, Elation, Exaltation, and everything else. It will be found there. Pieces of the temple were built around the world and put in the middle of the desert for 50,000 people to enjoy with endless hours and donations behind it. You will find everything there. Some get married, some get pierced, some meditate and other just sit and wonder. On the 7th day the temple is burned. Everyone surrounds it in silence as they watch the old burn away and look forward to the new.

Leaving It All Behind - Preparing

In 3 1/2 short months, I'll be packing it all up to leave the world behind. Nothing more than the apparel in my backpack, a laptop and an open mind to what lies ahead. No true itinerary, no routine, no bills or obligations. The thought of traveling into the unknown and what experiences lie ahead is exciting. I plan to leave regular updates in the different countries I visit, take pictures of enticing foods, exotic beaches, aged old temples, landscape and culture's from the smallest villages to some of the most populated cities. It won't always be easy but it will be real, it will be fun. As I prepare for this experience of a life time, I will be keeping updates before my departure.  It will be an extraordinary experience and can't wait to land.