Burning man festival

how

My 22 yr old daughter has just gone through the 2013 Burning Man festival and thought it taught her a lot about herself.
I have always found better things to do that suffer through the deprivations and enforced social interactions that the Burning man offered but ...I've also said as much about some monastic retreats.

In listening to her and watching numerous u tube videos...There is something intriguing about it.
I asked her if she would go again and she said she would if I went to.

Anyone here gone... and what did you think of it?

Cinorjer

I've watched the reports from the internet and read articles. The good is, it seems to be an adventure where people can relax and explore just about any weirdness around. The bad is, there are reports of rapes and assaults in the chaos, especially against women, that the organizers aren't equipped to handle and that doesn't usually get mentioned in the press releases. I suppose as it kept getting bigger and bigger, there were bound to be a few bad crazy people along with the good crazy ones.

wrathfuldeity

Have never gone, but got my fix doing Rainbow Gatherings from mid 70's to mid 80's they were mellow, fun and interesting. But back then it was less than 4-10k for the week and even Dead shows were 1.5-10k...my last dead show was 50k...a whole different animal. So Burning Man has never interested me. However I would like to do a maha kumba mela.

Invincible_summer

I try to keep an open mind about Burning Man... but most people who I talk to about it mainly talk about the party/drugs aspect or how "spiritual" it is to be in the desert with a bunch of other "like-minded" people... personally, I can't see anything "spiritual' for me in it, but that's why I don't go.

David

I would have gone when I was 22 if I knew about it.

Tosh

I think it's fabulous that a 22 year old daughter would want her dad to go with her.

My daughter is 17 years old and I'm sooooooooo uncool.

how

@Tosh
That 5 years between 17 & 22, while it seems like the blink of an eye for the parent, is like eon of time for your daughter to decide what is cool and what is not.

My daughter wandered India for India for 6 months/has visited most Asian countries/ lived in Mexico/ did volunteer work in Africa, seriously sees the world as her playground and probably thinks that her Dad needs to get out more.

seeker242

I had friends that went. All they do is party, get drunk, listen to music, smoke pot, do LSD, mushrooms and various other drugs and run around half naked. Basically, all things Buddha said not to do!

how

& seeker242

In asking my daughter about your posting she said the Burning man festival was too large for her to witness more than a fraction of it's whole but thanked you for your activity recommendations for her next visit.

What surprised her was how deep & wide spread the commitment to kindness & generosity seemed to be throughout the festival.

Her choices of workshops were mostly meditative, artistic or physically playful but did said many folks slept through the day to be able to party all night long once the sun went down so perhaps your friends were the nocturnal ones she mainly missed.