Burning Man Pictorial – Day 7

Sunday. The day of the Temple Burn.

For many folks, they come to Burning Man to see The Man burn, which happens Saturday night. It’s the big focal event of the week. The iconic structure that has been our beacon for the week is burned in a huge celebration of fireworks, dancing, art cars and cheers – and then a big kaboom. It’s a big party.

And many folks leave right after it.

For me however, the burning of the temple is the core of the event. The temple is built a bit behind the man – and it’s generally designed and constructed by a different team each year. It’s the place where people go to write the things they need to release or manifest – the death of a loved one, forgiving, committing to change, etc.

I visit is several times during the event, and reading some of the things written will bring you to tears. It’s a very somber place, a spiritual center of the community built at Black Rock City. It defies all of the mainstream stories of Burning Man being a big naked drunken party in the middle of the desert.

It’s the reason I have returned every year.

And this year’s temple was an epic creation. In a year of a theme of ‘Metropolis’, it was built to be more organic and earth based in contrast. It reminds you of walking through canyons that engulf you, and it was magical.

The burn itself has a much more somber feel. Most of the thumpa-thumba of the dance camps and art cars is silenced. People are chanting, singing, crying and thanking. The costumes folks wear are less flashy, and there is less inebriation. We all surround the temple as if to embrace it as its burn carries away all of the things that have held us back from moving forward in our lives. When it finally falls to the ground, there is a celebration of a community that is renewed with hope for the future.

If you’re not moved on some level, then I might suggest you didn’t leave something on the temple of your own – or didn’t visit it to grok the depth of emotion in the embers flying above your head and being released.

It is the spirit of the temple that I carry with me all year long.