Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. Should anyone refuse to invite you to be a full member of their camp, their bar, or their artwork because they say you have invested no thought, effort, or planning into it, they are clearly Assholes and Don’t Get It.
Gifting
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. So shut up already about my preparedness and give me a fucking drink.
Decommodification
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 hate to be reminded that we spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on crap from big box stores, oil companies, vehicle rentals and other gas guzzling transport. Please remove all the labels from everything so that we can maintain the illusion that we are outside of the normal world that we depend on so heavily. For instance, please pretend that you own a big box truck and decommodify it by creatively covering over the name of the people you rented it from. “U-haul” is painful to observe and it will help our collective psyche if you can change it to “U-Fuck” or something equally creative.
Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources. Relying on your skills at begging, wheedling, and “setting your intentions for a miracle” are all ways to express your self-reliance.
Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression 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. You are a unique child of the universe and everything you touch is imbued with your own lovely artfulness. So wrap some yarn around a couple of twigs, call it art, and you can feel free to demand any other support from any True Burner. It’s artists like you who really make the place go, right? Anyone who does not support you is clearly not a True Burner.
Communal Effort
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. People will bring everything you need to live comfortably at Burning Man in support of the community. So don’t worry or plan. Someone else will take care of you.
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. Just kidding. Burning Man is totally rule free and lawless. Anyone who suggests otherwise is some kind of proto-fascist and not a True Burner. If you get busted selling ecstasy on Esplanade, the cop is at fault.
Leaving 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 when we found them. Be sure that the people you camp with handle this. Feel free to criticize anything that impacts your creative freedom. Real artists don’t do cleanup. They have People for that.
Participation
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. So please participate in anything you see – eat the food, drink the booze, sleep in the shade, climb on the art, ride the rides. It’s there for your participation. Your wonderful self is your contribution. Anyone who claims otherwise is not Getting It.
Immediacy
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. That includes anything that attempts to see into the unknowable future, like planning or preparation. The playa will provide your intense, immediate experience, unmoderated by any off-playa reality. So just show up. The playa will provide.
