Radical Inclusion & Self Expression
Radical Inclusion
Human transformation is possible within Burning Man’s culture due to the community’s commitment to living out the 10 Principles. Radical Inclusion is possibly one of the most influential and delicate principles. Radical Inclusion, is defined as follows;
“Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.”
Reverbia feels strongly about diversity and inclusion - while we are a large, 300 person camp, we still maintain a small community feel due to the way we live out this principle. We welcome virgins with open arms, create a space for people to express themselves and we come back together daily to share meals, creating a sense of belonging.
Diversity & Inclusion
The culture of Burning Man transcends your status in society - no matter if you're a celebrity or Joe Schmoe, any participant will walk away from the experience of Burning Man as a better person. Are all welcome, and there is a safe space for us to be able to participate, and it's a level playing field.
Diversity plays a big factor in human transformation - it broadens our perspectives, exposes our cognitive bias’ that hold us back and strengthens our sense of empathy which enables connection.
Belonging
Diversity thrives when there is a sense of belonging and inclusion present. We all share a common human desire to feel a sense of belonging. The need for tribal belonging is one of our survival tactics (apart from our nervous system). When we don’t feel safe to be ourselves, when we feel excluded or like we don’t fit into the culture, it threatens our sense of belonging which activates our limbic (otherwise called lizard) brain. When this happens we are biologically unable to be creative, welcome new ideas and grow. Behaviors that enable a sense of belonging are as follows:
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Amplify others - ie. give the floor to someone that may not always speak up
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Active listening
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Vulnerability
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Relate to others - ask questions to find similarities
Radical Self Expression
Another core principle is Radical Self-Expression which “arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient."
Burning Man is a place where we are empowered to express ourselves and it is so important to be welcomed to do so within a culture of inclusion. Connecting across differences AND stepping into your unique voice / expression can feel risky or vulnerable or fear of not being accepted. The courage to be vulnerable actually creates connection. So if what we are all after is a sense of belonging, creating a culture of inclusion will provide the safety necessary to support us to fully express ourselves while connecting across differences.
Radical Self Reliance & Participation
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Radical Self Reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
Radical self reliance starts when packing and prepping for Burning Man so we can be prepared on playa. We are all responsible for our own education. Doing research around the elements we are walking into and how to stay safe on playa is highly encouraged for newcomers. In order to show up as our full selves and participate and contribute to the culture of Burning Man we must put on our own oxygen masks first before helping others.
Emergency services explains that soft tissue injuries are the #1 injury on playa which are easily preventable. Safety tips:
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Carry a personal first aid kits. Emergency services are for emergencies.
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Bring and wear protective equipment like working gloves and protective eyewear
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Wear lights on your front and back parts to avoid being hit by a bike, art car, magic carpet, flying saucer, etc. Plus, do you really want to poop in the dark?
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Hydrate.
If you run into a problem, before blaming others, the situation or any other external factors, ask yourself, how could you have showed up differently, prepared differently etc. Remember, when you are self reliant, you are in control of your own experience. So ask yourself, how can you take more ownership over your experience to have a more easeful burn? Because “If not you, then who?”
Participation
Now that we are oriented to be radically self reliant, we are prepared to participate at our fullest potential, in our fullest expression. Participation brings life to Burning Man and is stated as follows…
“Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.”
Burning Man is not built for you, it is built by you. Burning Man is not a festival. The invitation to participate is more than an invitation to have an amazing experience. It’s about CREATING that experience for yourself and those around you.
Radically self reliant and participatory Reverbians understand their roles and responsibilities for their volunteer shifts prior to stepping on playa and show up on time, well slept and nourished to do their shifts. We have so much gratitude for all of our volunteers who make it possible to provide live music to the playa. Over 130 hours of Live Music Programming, on the esplanade, with 4 stages and 300 mouths to feed is no joke.
Communal Effort
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“Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art and methods of communication that support such interaction."
Communal effort seems fitting as we enter build week - go team! Collaboration requires strong methods of communication especially in extreme conditions like the playa. Having a diverse set of perspectives brings a wide set of strengths. This also brings competing values which is typically the root of most conflict. Understanding how others work and what they value and being mindful of that is a quick way to deescalate a situation and create trust and connection amongst conflict.
Pioneers value possibilities, and they spark energy and imagination on their teams. They believe risks are worth taking and that it’s fine to go with your gut. Their focus is big-picture. They’re drawn to bold new ideas and creative approaches.
Guardians value stability, and they bring order and rigor. They’re pragmatic, and they hesitate to embrace risk. Data and facts are baseline requirements for them, and details matter. Guardians think it makes sense to learn from the past.
Drivers value challenge and generate momentum. Getting results and winning count most. Drivers tend to view issues as black-and-white and tackle problems head on, armed with logic and data.
Integrators value connection and draw teams together. Relationships and responsibility to the group are paramount. Integrators tend to believe that most things are relative. They’re diplomatic and focused on gaining consensus.
You can see how conflict may arise given what matters to the various styles. For example, integrators hate conflict, drivers love to debate. A guardian’s detailed plan can feel aggravating to the visionary pioneer. Vice versa, the guardian can view the pioneer’s ideas as an impractical mess. Often times we are in conflict due to conflicting perspectives and approaches and we get into the blame game. Alternatively we can appreciate that there are other ways of working and learn how to better ask for our needs in the situation to step out of judgement and into creation.
Curiosity gives someone the chance to feel understood and they will be less likely to be reactive and defensive, and more likely to take ownership of the broken agreement. Curiosity can be hard to access when we are frustrated, full of blame and resentment. Owning our feelings and sharing the impact of the broken agreement here is key.
Communal effort requires ownership in how you are showing up and impacting others and/or the situation. So ask yourself, when are you at your worst? What are you creating when you are at your worst? Who suffers the consequences? When are you at your best? What are you creating and who benefits at your best?
Civic Responsibility & LNT
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Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
Some ways that you can take responsibility around this principle is to feel empowered to speak up if you feel someone is not behaving in accordance to this principle - ie. creeping on someone without consent, doing drugs, fighting etc and notify a Camp Lead. Reverbia is a camp of No Drama, no illegal drugs, responsible partying, quiet hours in our tenting/camping area (we like people to be able to rest), and no amplified music (instruments welcome).
Please take the time to acquaint yourself with resources around sexual misconduct and remember, if it’s not a fuck yes, it’s a NO! There is an initiative around consent being the 11th principle which seems fitting to introduce here.
Leave No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than we found them. We are a camp that cares about sustainability and practices conservation ie. dry washing of dishes, recycling and composting.
For those of you that don’t know, MOOP stands for Matter Out Of Place. Burning Man has a moop map where they track how much moop is left behind on our camp grounds. If there is a lot of moop (larger than a gallon bag) we are penalized and we may not be placed on the esplanade the following year which would change our entire offering. This is also a threat to the entire event continuing given the guidelines enforced by the Bureau of Land Management.
Decommodification & Gifting
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Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
We live in a transactional world. This affects how we communicate, relate, create, express, celebrate etc. When we are living out the values of gifting and decommodification we are able to connect to our authentic desires, focus on being over having and express our authentic self.
But decommodification doesn’t only entail limiting commerce on playa. It is also possible for a person to be commodified which ultimately limits that person to those rankings or standards. Burning Man is a safe space from commercial messaging. A place where we can feel into our true desire and happiness without well, buying it.
So how can you help to live out this value?
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Don’t use BM grounds for marketing
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Accept gifts with a smile, not an exchange. *Gentle reminder that your gift can be your presence rather than an item or a good. MOOP free prefered!
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Leave your branded clothes at home
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Observe without evaluating
Immediacy - “Be Here Now”
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Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.
Immediacy creates a more mindful and present environment to have meaningful and unique experiences in the moment, and is the perfect antidote to FOMO (fear of missing out). With so much going on in Black Rock City, one could become crippled with options OR they could be empowered to live out the immediacy principle and contribute to the environment they are currently in. We are constantly plugged in and connected in the default world. How cool is it to get to take a break from it all and be fully present? Immediacy allows for serendipity and flow and who doesn’t want more of that?!
Thank you for reading and educating yourself on the principles of Burning Man. Living out these principles enables a culture of transformation at Burning Man and in life. Transformation is the willingness to give up who you are for what you might become- it is a continuous process of having an awareness of your mindset, taking responsibility of your behaviors and ownerships of your outcomes. It is my hope that you will carry these with you, bring the one that resonates with you most up in conversation and spread the love of what BM is all about!
Hello Reverbians!
As some of you may know, Burning Man is running a huge acculturation initiative to maintain the Burning Man culture with scale and address our top concerns around Burning Man’s shifting culture. As part of that initiative, they asked each camp to represent the 10 Principles (or values) of Burning Man to help emphasize the importance of participation.
Burning Man describes culture as “our collective lived experience. It’s not something you are, but rather something you do.” Values (or principles) help guide us in our decisions and ultimately our actions which create our culture. Marian Goodell explains that “Burning Man helps people live more creative and collective lives. It changes people, it causes a cultural shift in the way we communicate and relate with each other.” Transformation is possible within Burning Man’s culture due to the community’s commitment to living out the 10 Principles.