The Triumph of Fun and Weird Over Sense and Efficiency
After 30 years, someone turned the difficulty level up. Burners who have been here for decades and never had a ...Read More
All posts by Caveat Magister
Perfect Strangers
I woke up to the sound of a strange man playing the piano in my camp. I don't just mean ...Read More
Sun and Dust, Music and Dreams
By late morning, I was giving up. Dragging my still exhausted caucus just a few blocks in the sun, I ...Read More
Day and Night
It’s not so much Radical Self-Reliance as “survival” that is on a lot of people’s minds. The days are brutal. ...Read More
Perform at Your Own Risk: What We’ve Learned About Radical Ritual
Ritual, like voting, has gotten a bad reputation in Western culture. When we first presented “Radical Ritual” as a theme, ...Read More
How “Awe,” “Ritual,” and “Risk” Are Psychological Necessities
We don't usually think of "Awe" as one of the essential human emotions, but licensed psychologist and American Psychological Association ...Read More
How to Invite Sacred Moments
We don’t usually think of rituals as dangerous, but Crimson Rose literally dances with fire. Her ritual practice has clear ...Read More
Don’t Bogart That Leadership — Burning Man’s Not a Zero Sum Game
Not long ago I overheard a discussion between two OG Burners about leadership. Leadership at Burning Man, one said to ...Read More
(Re)Discovering Ritual’s Role in Medicine
The term “healing ritual” often gets thrown around in ways that suggest it would be better if it were thrown ...Read More
What We Can Learn About the Soul by Talking About the Body — Reading “Materialism”
Sometimes I think that Terry Eagleton is a Don Quixote figure, on a quest that has taken him out into ...Read More