Why we burn
So, you were wondering why we keep doing that? Why we spend all those euros, dollars — and honestly, whatever the currency might be — at it? Why we spend hours, days and weekends to prepare, to build art, to imagine experiences, to think of ways how we could enlighten the experience of not ourselves, of the others. It seems wonderful but a bit insane. You keep wondering why we won’t stop talking about it? Why we desperately try to bring you, our friends, family and the rest of the world to it? Why we just can’t stop? Why we keep on doing it and why we won’t stop?
You really want to know why we are not scared by those millionaires or even billionaires? Why we’re so sure about that we survive any onslaught of those things we hope to not be found there?
Well, it’s easy. In the first place those millionaires and billionaires, they are us. Money doesn’t differentiate us. We are the same, no matter if we sleep in tents, RVs, sleeping bags under the man, or in sealed luxury compartments. Every one of us has the chance to feel that same feeling. That feeling so many of us felt there the first time. That feeling that made us come back. And while you’re still thinking, it’s the blinking, the fire, the music, the dancing, the nudeness, the party, the drinks, the thoughts, the talks, the life-changing experiences, the instant friendships, the long-lasting friendships, the family, the art, the desert, the dust, the surviving in all of it, or whatever tale you try to believe in. If we’re really honest, it’s way simpler. Well, at least it’s what it is for me.
It is hope.
Hope that this what we are experiencing in this tiny week of the year (or multiple if you’re keen to travel to other places), that it is not lost. That it will not stay that one story you tell all your friends, family and kids of. No, the hope we might gather is, that we are actually able to bring this experience to other places. Maybe places with less dust and more water. Maybe we can spread it. Maybe we can contribute a small change to the better. And maybe those other people think we are the crazy ones. But deep down we know we’re not crazy. We just have seen a glimpse of how it could be.
We go back to see it. And we’re not just watching it. We are creating it. Every one of us is creating it. It’s not a curated experience to alter our minds after the belief of a few. We do have that elsewhere. No, we all create it, and it ends being ours.
So, we are sorry to bother you all year with our tales from the desert. Too strange, quite unbelievable, and therefor weird, even scary. But don’t worry, while we do try you to get there, we won’t push you. In the end it’s yourself that needs to want to get there.