Burning Man - A Week of Radical Self Expression

'Burning Man is an Adult Playland', a 29-Hour a day party for a week; A Globally Charged Community in the desert of Northern Nevada.

'You can vacation in say Jamaica and see things that millions have seen before you and millions will see after you...Or you can trek yourself & stuff to BRC and see things that will only be available for one week to see'

Here is an interesting look back at what Burning Man has meant to me and the lessons I have learned each year...

2000 > 2001 > 2002 > 2003 > 2004 > 2005 > 2006 > 2007 > 2008 >  
2009 > 2010 > 2011 > 2012 > 2013  >  2014 >  2015 > 2016 > 2017 > 2018

2003 as PolyParadise joined Shangri-La Village my lessons were going to be about Expectation. What it is I expect from myself as well as what I expect from others. I was severely let down by some of the Village elders as they dropped the ball on some of the things they promised to take care of Pre-Playa...I as well had several similar experiences...I had had an awesome Pre-Playa correspondence with a women about everything under the sun...I spent the ENTIRE week trying to hook up with her and was unable to find her...On Friday night I caught a glimpse of her at the Western Regional Talent show and went and introduced myself and I got about 3.7 seconds of acknowledgement from her and then she was Exit Stage Left...A few months later I began to analyze what had happened and how was it I felt so let down...I came to understand a bit more about the BM Mantra...'Have NO Expectation'...I had thought that referred to only the Playa and BM in general, I became aware that it applies to people as well...I also began to understand and shed some of my own issues about 'Only' working or interacting with people for some type of GAIN, instead of just enjoying the experience or interaction, no matter how brief...

Burning Man & the Playa have allowed me to understand what Community really is and what it takes in effort to build such Community. It has shown me that there are persons all over the globe that have the same ideals, thoughts, dreams as I do and to be able to come to a place like BM to be able to share them together has been one inspiration after another. What lessons and growth opportunities await me this year have me on the edge of my seat...

Without fail, as I drive down the last miles towards Gerlach, I get butterflies in my stomach...wondering in anticipation what this year will teach me.

What I have NEVER been able to do is predict what I needed to learn...

What lessons did you learn from Burning Man & the Playa in 2003?