Burning Man changed my life. I can’t really pinpoint exactly how it did that, but I know that the first time I went there in 1999, something happened and I was able to reach into a part of me which I either never knew was there or knew was there but was never able to reach. I believe this is not an uncommon outcome, and that most people who attend the yearly festival in the Nevada desert experience something that touches them profoundly.
I managed to go two more times, in 2001 and 2002, but it never really felt the same. The magic and awe were still present, but some of the novelty and beauty had started to wane.

There are many readings of this cyber post-modern hippie festival that started on the beaches of San Francisco in the late 1980’s. Some see it as a release from society, some as a purging of their inner demons, some as a Disneyland of experimentation, others as a place of artistic freedom and beauty, or as a convergence of consciousness, and finally, for some, it’s just the perfect place to get high and to get laid, while mixing it up with desert survival camping. In a word, this is an event that probably could only take place in the US.

The beauty of Burning Man lies in this diversity of possibilities. There is something there for everyone. It is like a beautiful tree covered with many different types of fruits, all easily accessible and all ripe for the picking. One only needs to choose what suits one’s taste the best.
But one of the most magical aspects of the festival, at least until about 10 years ago, and even then, the old timers were already talking about how the festival was slowly losing its identity to the ‘weekend tourists’, is how it reminds one of the pressures and constraints of our society by removing them. Unlike more traditional festivals, Burning Man allows one to contemplate an alternative society, one where people exist to be kind to each other (on the most part) and to share a common ideal and consciousness. Moreover, this is a society that does not judge and does not, directly or indirectly, tell its citizens how to behave, how to dress, or how to exist. In return, the people choose willingly to be free and to act accordingly but to never harm others in the process.

One of the most hideous obstacles to our freedom in today’s society is the absurdity of consensual crimes, those actions that do not impact anyone but the person engaging in this action, but yet are deemed criminal by society. It is a wonderful and exhilarating experience to be free from the judgement of institutions and that of other people. I believe that one does not truly know what the impact is of such liberation on one’s psyche, personality and behaviour until one experiences it. And I believe that most people, if they allow such a freedom to wash over them, will surprise themselves and realize, if only a little bit, that our minds and bodies have become corrupted by the demands of our modern world. Burning Man allows for a temporary respite from the Matrix in which we live, a vacation for the senses and for the mind and a new way of looking at the world. Who doesn’t need this once in a while?