What's with the principles?

We started with "Burn With No Name" which turned into "Moisture Burn" at the first event.  The second event was subbed Burn Out, because of all the social and political upheaval.  And now we have settled on "Burn In" - As in We want to stay In tonight rather than go out, like the backyard Burn of the DMV area.  Also as in Inclusivity.  Also as in everything comes from WithIN. 

 

One of the main principles of Burningman is self expression, so in the spirit of that principle, I decided to mess with the principles themselves.

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The three principles:

1. Play Hard

2. Respect the land

3. Cherish the living and honor the dead

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Play Hard : I think the main characteristic of a burn is “play”. It covers self expression, participation and immediacy. Would you go to a burn if it wasn’t fun? Yes some burns aren’t as fun as the others maybe because of the elements or our personal situations but for the most part we go and act silly.

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Respect the land is analogous to LNT and more. Since this is a private land and in some sense it can be considered “our own”, it changes the spirit of things a little. This is our own, let’s take care of it the best we can. Not many people have seen this property. It’s gorgeous in its rawness, and I personally will work hard to keep it that way. Additionally, it’s a watershed so it is a very sensitive environmental concern, which gives us more reasons to take care of it. Furthermore, one of the owners is studying sustainable development and permaculture so that’s another reason to respect this principle. This is “our” land but in essence we are also guests, immediately and in long term.

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To me, another important characteristic of a burn is its power to foster communities. Everything happens so that we can sit at a camp or walk by some art to have a meaningful or silly conversation with another soul. That’s what burns are all about -- hence “cherish the living”. This also sums up communal effort and civic responsibility. Honor the “dead” is new and it refers to the history of this land. This area has seen some dark times, from the time of Native Americans to slavery and the Civil War. We must respect the history of the people who once lived and suffered here. We can never and should never forget.

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As this new "trip" develops, we can re-visit these principles and add/delete/modify.  Nothing is written in stone; except some puzzling lines we found on a stone near by.