anyway one of the many purposes burning man and burning man type festivals provides is a pretty cool spiritual experience in the form of the actual burn and temple burn - when they light a big sculpture on fire - which are really effective like... generic spiritual rituals

the general structure is that the first one is where they light a giant sculpture on fire, such as a sculpture of a huge man. it's a raucous affair where everyone dances, screams, and runs around.

the next night is the temple burn, which is a really subdued affair where everyone watches a more siritually significant structure burn, in still silence. and it was like. i dunno. it was a spiritual experience. i don't have a lot of those

i don't know what the point of this thread is. there's a lot of complaints to be had with firefly and burning man. but i think a lot of people are hungry for what they provide even though we might not know it.

i guess it's just. i felt something powerful the nights of the burns that no irony-poisoned who-can-be-the-better-leftist space has provided me, and that makes me kinda sad.

anyway i want to also state that i went into firefly with, i think, a good balance between a cynical and an open mind. i have a lot of problems with the cult-like feel of a lot of burner spaces, but it is certainly possible to take part without buying into that

anyway when i have a farming commune i'm absolutely holding art festivals modeled after and trying to improve on the burning man model