challenging "the Temple"

[Eric]

Why would 100,000 people travel through adversity to take a bath in a dirty river?

100 million, not 100 thousand.

We all understand traveling to an inhospitable location because it has meaning - we all do it as well. Something you seem to forget.

Also, from that article, a quote from one of the people in the middle of that madness for actual spiritual reasons:

"It's all a bit crazy," said Baba Nirbhaya Puri, looking on from his (understated) ashram. "We're here for inner peace, not this stuff."

Probably just a naysayer.

[canexplain]

Kumbh Mela

Now here is a place, where they said on NBC news, they expect 40 MILLION people. They are going to bathe in a river where they throw dead people. Why? We all have our quirks. .....

[Roberto Dobbisano]

people do stupid shit all the time.

[theCryptofishist]

I'm confused, Robberto. Are you saying that at Burningman, life is as cheap as it is in India?


Is it a good spot for medical tourism, then?

[Simon of the Playa]

totally, i scored two kidneys and a liver last year...

got 50k on ebay for them.

stupid hippies.

[Roberto Dobbisano]

phpBB [video]

[Eric]

That liver was worth every penny - mine was shot.

[Simon of the Playa]

why didnt you tell me?

please, you didnt pay retail, did you?

i could have gotten you such a deal.

a nice shiksa liver, from encino i think...

[theCryptofishist]

I'm getting a second liver implanted now. I wanna be really, really ready this year.

[ygmir]

I'm getting a second liver implanted now. I wanna be really, really ready this year.

Madame Braunschweiger ,is that you?

[aserendipity]

be sure to check that it is indeed German

[Ugly Dougly]

Kumbh Mela

Now here is a place, where they said on NBC news, they expect 40 MILLION people. They are going to bathe in a river where they throw dead people. Why? We all have our quirks. .....

Deaths after stampede at Hindu festival
The gods are hungry. See what happens if you stop doing human sacrifice?

At least 10 people have been killed and a dozen more injured after a stampede broke out at a train station in the northern Indian town where millions of devout Hindus gathered for a religious festival, a senior government minister says.

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Deaths-after-sta ... z2Kbv1Ws4W

[BBadger]

At least 10 people have been killed and a dozen more injured after a stampede broke out at a train station in the northern Indian town where millions of devout Hindus gathered for a religious festival, a senior government minister says.

Given the number of people, there is probably a greater percentage of people who die at Burning Man than at that festival.

[AntiM]

I just read the entire thread... yeah, I don't go near the temple anymore. Mostly because I've lost enough folks to feel I should do memorials for all of them, and I'd be catching up, and I'd be hard pressed to do that much compressed mourning. Feels right to memorialize those who have passed in other ways than on the playa.

I do like the idea of smaller temples, scattered about. Like little Shinto shrines. Maybe a mikoshi would be a hoot. I have a whistle! Or Day of the Dead altars in camps. It all doesn't need to be in the Temple.

The Temple. It gets capitalized just like The Man now. I haven't been near either burn the last few years, even when we do fuels in the Great Circle, we run like mad with the fuel cart when the perimeter drops. Temple burns are physically painful for me, I can't sit on the ground, there's that nasty sage smudging in abundance, as well as other herbs which interfere with my breathing, or we're sitting in the bike back by the exhaust fumes of the MVs. All spiritual meaning gets lost. Much better to sit back and watch the panoply from a distance.

That I can use panoply in the context of Burning Man is worrisome. It is the antithesis of chaos, no? Yes?

The back streets are where I find my better burn these days. I suppose the temple means more to other folks than to me, and that's alright ... but the ice line has more potential for enlightenment in my view.

[theCryptofishist]

The Temple. It gets capitalized just like The Man now.

That's it, right there.

[theCryptofishist]

We are the Knights who Say Nay!

[ygmir]

We are the Knights who Say Nay!

icky-icky-icky-icky-kapang-zoop-boing

[gyre]

There has been a small structure set up outside the temple by japanese monks for burning papers during the burn, at least once.
It is hard to see with the crowds.

[mytripod]

hmmm...having only been to BM once, I can't really give a full opinion. I just know that the temple in 2011 made me cry. I left memorial notes to my dead son and then couldn't face the burning of the temple. Ritual structures are strange human things. I'm not religious, but the temple meant something to me (okay, I adored Toyzilla and spent a lot of time there too). I am a bit ritual oriented and enjoy engaging in rituals from a variety of "religions". I had wishes burned in Japan during New Years. I had my bad stuff burned up in the giant urn at the Tucson procession of Day of the Dead. I've drunk mescal with families in graveyards in Oaxaca. They all appeal to me in spite of me being an atheist. There is something very human about places to contemplate our existence/spirituality. I don't get the idea of "worship," so to me such places are where I might meet our universal souls. I spent a month by myself in the desert in Quartzite, building rock designs to celebrate winter solstice, meeting strange people who "opened doors" into spiritual circles and giving me rocks that symbolized my spirit guides. I'm open to more such things than I was as a youngster. There are many art installations around BRC that might evoke the same reaction in different people, but our species seems to have some need to pool our spirituality in specific places (think vortexes, churches, sacred ground, etc). This year I am staying for the burning of the temple, partly because I'm curious about how I will react.

[mytripod]

That would be Quartzsite. I hate to misspell.

[gyre]

You may want to visit Hello Shiva, the Vengeance Goddess of Hello Kittycats

[Simon of the Playa]

thisisthepartwhereisuggestpullingapauladdisonthetempleasaposthypnoticsuggestiontothenextmanchurianburnerthatisgoingtocomedownt
hepikeandxcitethecultureandcommunitywithatasteoflusciouschaosandanarchy....

[Roberto Dobbisano]

if i were YOU i would NOT read that.

[H.G.Crosby]

I think you'll find this to be a pleasant experience.

phpBB [video]

[Roberto Dobbisano]

"Keep Burning Man Unsettling and Creepy and possibly Political"

[some seeing eye]

How about dialing back on the expense of the man base and burn? I'm just fine with a pile of hay bales and no pyro. The man experience throughout the week should be rethought, it has become just a line to go up with little interaction.

The Temple is hands down the best art project at BM. It can be comprehended and respected by the art world outside the event. (The art world has recently been rediscovering participation-based art) It looks good and creates high quality interaction. But the use of that much virgin birch plywood is unconscionable. I would like to see more thought given to reused materials with the same grandeur. I like a single mass design, multiple buildings and bridges are unnecessary. Each of those suggestions would reduce the expense. A comprehensive video documentation of the notes on the temple before it burns each year would add a lot.

The organizers and participants have made many innovations in the design of the event: the city plan, esplanade, center camp, large sound camp area, temple, art orientation, gift economy, kidsville, lamplighters, rangers. Every aspect of the event should be continuously studied and reconsidered, rather than just coasting and growing in budget

[junglesmacks]

+1

..and yeah, my favorite and honestly only aspect of the temple that I personally enjoy is the overall mindblowing art of it. This last year's temple was one of the most incredible structures that I've ever seen with my own eyes.. and even more so after learning that David drew freehand every single last design and nuance of it. Amazing. Completely amazing. I would stand there at night in front of it in complete awe as the lighting took hold and it began to look like this perfect upwards reach that went all the way to the heavens. Ok so maybe it wasn't always just the lighting that took hold..

BRC being a place of freedom, I can't and won't judge others for what they choose to do or not do or create what they will out of things. If someone wants to turn BM into a giant sob fest and exalt this particular piece of art into some sort of spiritual creation, then hey.. knock yourself out.

BM is a million different things to a million different people.. and whatever it is to you, well..


Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth.

[Ugly Dougly]

Because most of us won't get to the Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat or the Pantheon...

[Token]

Because most of us won't get to the Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat or the Pantheon...

Been there, done those, the Belgian Waffle takes the cake.

To Bleve blowed it away.

The Oil Derrick burned it to the sky.

And the fucking monkeys are brutal at the Taj.

[H.G.Crosby]

And the fucking monkeys are brutal at the Taj.

they're even worse at the Marmont.