Dust Cowboy

The Temple, David Best

Playa Spiral (artist unknown)

Saturday night the Man burns.   All week the Man’s arms are down and just before the flames lick his torso his arms raise as if in supplication to the gods.  The neon man is stuffed with fireworks that explode in a celebration of man’s vulnerability.

My symbolic burn happened not with the burning of the man, but with the burn of the Temple of Stars (design by David Best).  This is the culmination of the week, Sunday night.  I watched the temple take shape all week, and it was finally complete on Friday.   Every year the temple bears a different theme and people are invited to write the names of things or people they have lost or want to let go of on the structure.

 I want you to see the temple as it was,  think of the sweat,  toil, effort,  design, materials, work, time, and the heat and dust it was built in. Now, feel the exalted hush of thirty thousand people.  The crackle of the fire amidst the silent crowd sent a primal, lightning nerve impulse of opening. The fire grew. Feel the intense heat on your face, sense the awe,  see the ash rise hundreds of feet above you-- watch this beauty burn.  The feeling of surrender is palpable. The fire reached the cosmos taking everything with it-- as if it could suck all the life brought to the playa and return it to nothing.  It consumed all the efforts that went into building this city, surviving the harsh environment and giving to others in an expression of community.  It was a symbolic signal to the universe-- a recognition of our impermanence and purpose here.

Not a trace is left in the desert.  For weeks after the cleanup crew scours the desert floor using a grid system so that no trace is left in the environment.  It is a fitting way to leave the Playa the way it was found, empty, endless, and waiting for the next Burning Man.