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• Sunday, January 11, 2009 09:37 PM

  In defense of Burning Man and guy #1

  I always find it interesting to see the level of hostility which develops in the comments at Salon, especially for Cary's columns. It seems that so many readers have no tolerance for any personal flaws in a forum which is, so far as I can tell, about asking advice to get on the path towards personal growth. As for this particular LW, it appears that the sins of herself and her ex have been transferred onto all of the hundreds of thousands of people who have gone to Burning Man over the years.

  I'm a regular attendee, having gone 7 years now. From my experience, I can say that the community has a lot of the same problems as the broader society, but it also has some unique characteristics which keep me coming back. I'll grant that verbiage on the BM website has a whiff of cultishness to it, but it's really not too different from the self-mythologizing which any artistic endeavor engages in. Once you get to the playa, it fades into the background and you can go on to have whatever kind of week you want.

  The LW's ex went to the desert and had a spiritual experience which she couldn't relate to or respect. To me, that points more to their incompatibility than to the rightness or wrongness of his path. He had a revelation of sorts and he needed to test it. He's finished now, and prepared to continue on with what he was doing before. He has probably grown a lot from the experience -- I'm sure it will inform his philosophy going forward, and that it has made him a richer person.

  -Chris (Hookahdome)

  —ChrisV Read ChrisV's other letters
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