Religion at Burning Man

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Reverend Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young
Silicon Valley Theologian and Episcopal Priest

Posted: 10/18/2013 11:56 am



The Latin word "religio" is the root for our word "religion." It means to tie, bind or fasten in the way that you might moor a boat. In a world of coercive and persuasive powers that compel and draw us as moral, intellectual and aesthetic beings, religion is the way that we seek orientation, or the mooring appropriate for our time and place. We bind ourselves to others in the past and present, we become connected to them as we try to live as humanely as possible.

It is in this sense that I regard Burning Man as one of the largest religious rituals in the western world. We danced, created and destroyed things together. We talked, cried, yelled and sat in silence. We came to the holy desert from wildly different places, but even in our ecstasy and despair, mostly we were one -- like the future city that John of Patmos calls the New Jerusalem. Burners greet each other with hospitality saying, "Welcome home!" For me this means, "express your wonderful uniqueness, because we act as a kind of family for each other."

I talked about God with Vedic priestesses, Unitarians, yogis, Quakers, entheogen voyagers, Episcopalians, Hindus, Roman Catholics, shamans, atheists and Zen teachers. I met people there who hate Christianity, people who, often for good reasons, associate it with bigotry and condemnation. But this was a minor part of my experience. Mostly in that holy desert we shared what we have in common. In outlandish costumes, creating breathtaking works of art, building friendships we tried to express more completely who we genuinely are. Perhaps for a short time we could even see ourselves and others more clearly as children of God.

This year's theme "Cargo Cult" refers to religions established in the Pacific theater during World War Two when islanders first experienced the tremendous wealth and material power of American soldiers. After the war these peoples designed ritual acts and stories hoping to bring back the cargo that had disappeared.

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