Do You Dream of Burning Man?

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 9:13 am

I've had vivid dreams of BM every night since we returned. One of the most interesting (to me) I had last night. It was an apocalyptic/post apocolyptic dreamm (which I've had about twice a week since I was 5 or 6). It was like a movie - there was even a title screen.

"THE BLEACH" I swear it was just like a movie. It was weird even for one of my dreams.

The world, it seems, had been struck by some sort of meteor or something filled with some extreme scrubbing agent. Where ever it encountered life, it would foam up wildy and bleach it away (I think the bleach is a nod to chemistry conversations I had with a buddy about the physical composition of the playa).

So somehow Rachel and I ended up in Denver at the airport where, apparently, thousands of other people had ended up. From the airport one could see the Rockies and they were covered in snow. The view of the mountains was one of the most vivid images in the dream. They were astonishing.

The people there were very cooperative, as everyone had the same goal which was to get onto planes and fly into places where the earth had already been "bleached". The people were sharing and helping each other and there was conflict but for the most part it was a lot like BRC. Then we ran into Peter O'Toole and the dream started to unravel a little...We didn't have any way to store all of our gear and stuff and he was rich - he had an RV and a ton of luggage he wasn't using. We asked if we could have some and he was adamant about not letting us so we broke into the RV while he was gone and tried taking some anyway and when we came out, security was there. Even they were fairly nice, though.

After that, I think I moved on to other dreams.

Even they were a little playa-fied, though. In one, I wandered into someone's house and they found me there in their living room and wanted to know what I was doing there. I said, nothing, I just came to hang out. They didn't get it.

Interesting, though, the element of the mountains and winter that keeps popping up. I hadn't read this thread until this morning and the coincidence seemed significant.

Markov Chaney · Post by **Markov Chaney** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 11:30 am

Since the burn I've awoken twice in the middle of the night and ended up crawling around my bedroom trying to find the opening to the tent so I can go out and find the potties.

Felt weird as hell when I realized that I'm no longer on the Playa

HEADBANDMAN · Post by **HEADBANDMAN** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:47 pm

I have burning man dreams all year long. I am just riding my bike around and having fun. Or all the stuff is there but no one is there it is so cool I have the place to myself. But then sooner of latter I come around a corner and every one is back.

See you there.

organicphoto · Post by **organicphoto** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:33 pm

I've been dreaming of Burning Man since I left, including the 42-hour ride back to Chicago. Last night my girlfriend started caressing my leg in the middle of the night, and I thought to myself "who is this girl?" because I had just been on the playa in my dreams!

This was my first burn, and I realized after the Man burned that my brain had been treating the previous week as a dream sequence. I didn't need drugs to enjoy the experience, because as far as my brain was concerned, I was in Heaven!

Diane · Post by **Diane** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 5:53 pm

throughout the year I dreamt about the burn - mostly no references to places just know it is where i am but it always has people/friends in it that would never be at the burn - very weird - been having them since before 1st burn in 2003 - Kinda like the whole Post-Apocolytic thing Fat Sam described but for me it has been for the -past 10 years - that is why when I set foot on the Playa in 2003 I felt really really right - this was theplace i was supposed to be and had dreampt of. Seriously. Relief like that this place really did exisist...
the month beofre the burn this year I had them 3-4 times a week - now every night. Why can't I take my top off when I am hot and sweaty doing dirty work in the warehouse?
Oh yeah...
"Reality" sets in...
Thanks god for DeCom's!
Yay!

morgbert · Post by **morgbert** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:59 am

First of all, PJ (see page 1) has the grossest avatar I've ever seen, and I mean that as a compliment.

I also dream of Burning Man being in the mountains and having real buildings with multiple levels. Strange.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:48 am

I don't recall night time dreams. But, I have done nothing but daydream of my week there and what I will do next year.

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:28 pm

how can ya dream of somethin that's already a dream?

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:28 pm

i'd like to invite anyone into a parallel conversation about spiritual experiences revolving around or stemming from burning man, especially in terms of time and nontime, like the dreamtime. i've been in the dreamtime every day, that's for sure, since attending burning man this year, and as experiences that i describe below unfold i'm beginning to recognize something just barely tangible yet profound. i feel like something powerful and gracious, almost like a giant bird brushing the event with its wingtips, is speaking something in my heart, and i would like to connect with anyone else feeling similar things in the interest of understanding the strange language of the spirit that i sense touching me. i wonder if the wave of consciousness is offering itself to those who would like to surf it? i guess it is my vision that burning man sends a vibration into the universe as well as into the planet earth which has the potential to open many of us to a wider experience of reality all the time, influencing the global evolution, like as in be here now..and now..and now.
i haven't had to sit through clocktime yet like many burners have talked about having to do at their jobs, being on summer vacation from grad school and setting my own hours until the 27th. during the day i have been getting daydreams and energy flows, closing my eyes and disappearing into the color of the playa dustscape or feeling led to pause and feeling a current moving like a spring from within my chest. (this color really moved me when i was there so i immediately jived with the playa landscape the minute i stepped out of the car. i think the playa exists perennially with the quality bestowed temporarily by city snowstorms and autumn leaf fall; before the blowers uncover all the infrastructural boundaries erased under the rare deposit (i live in temperate oregon).
i smile a lot more than my standard broad sense of humor usually causes me to do, without reference to eugene events. today i sat still for a moment as i encountered a kind of energetic visit from the playa. it felt like waves of warm air moving my body. and breathing feels energized too. appropriately enough, it's burning in me like fire. and it's unveiling things like a seed is releasing spiritual energy as it sprouts flames that lick at my solar plexus. (it reminds me of the fire of brigid in ireland, which never goes out in order that whenever anyone in the world blows out a candle or snuffs a camp fire they can know brigid - the Goddess or Great Spirit - lives eternally although submerged in this general time.
if anyone is having experiences such as these or unique to their spiritual language, i would be very happy to hear about them.
peace.

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:54 pm

finished reading your post...will you please alow me to interview you for my radio doc on spiritual transformations at Burning Man?.....I think sometime in Nov I could make it out to Eugene, or if you're in the Bay Area, I live in San Rafael. What you have to say is very important. I have felt oddly different since coming back from the playa this time around. I seem to have retained something of the magic from there, perhaps not launching into work right away helped, but dreams have been oddly different for me now, and my sense of time seems altered in some way too. I have the feeling that something profound and important is brewing both in me and in the universe.
You are right about Burning Man..there is some energy there that is eminating like a vortex, altering reality in a subltle way. This is too cool.
Look foward to hearing from you.. As a matter of fact, I sense that this should be posted too, so I'll do that.
-Cowboyangel

bullD · Post by **bullD** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:12 am

wovenone wrote:i'd like to invite anyone into a parallel conversation about spiritual experiences revolving around or stemming from burning man, especially in terms of time and nontime, like the dreamtime. i've been in the dreamtime every day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

WOW!!!

cowboyangel, don't let this person and mind get away from your project...

chineseobelisk · Post by **chineseobelisk** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:37 pm

yes, it hit me pretty hard too, this BM. and I am glad of e-playa to feel somewhat connected, especially those who are regularly posting notes from a positive place. thank you.

As far as the out of time out of place thing goes... I feel as though I have been given a fabulous gift and with that there is a large amount of responsibility to take advantage of/ use it toward what end I am not yet sure but in the midst of that part of me also wishes to retreat into the banality of my (previous) everyday existence out of fear and also laziness. It has made ignoring the crossroads I was at before BM a complete non-option, so it will be very interesting to see were I am post BM a year from now.
Also several friends and I discovered we were having the same dreams, er' well... similar. In the dream we are sleeping to the ever present techno beat, and are surrounded by friends all in fabulous mode of dress looking down at us while we sleep and also talking about us, these are not necessarily people who were at BM, actually more likely not, but when we wake (in the dream) we have a really nice sense of fulfillment and well being what with all these wonderful people there to greet us when we wake. Quite pleasent, I hope they don't stop for a while.

Post by **AntiM** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 7:16 pm

Since this dream, I've wondered what the logistics of having a burn in the winter would be.

Ah, rafts and heated gerbil runs? I've been out there in December, and it is colder than I had ever imagined; the wind cut through my outer clothes like sharpened icicles. We only drove a short distance onto the play; it was spongy and squishy beneath our feet when we got out. I'm quite certain the jeep would have been mired until summer had we dared venture out further. No snow. You think the playa is a bitch in the summer? She's damn mean in the winter; I'd rather take my chances in Utah's wintertime West Desert and that's saying a lot.

I dream of Burning Man all year, strange dreams in which I am searching unfamiliar landscapes for my larry.

gladeye · Post by **gladeye** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:53 pm

I have had lots of Burning Man dreams. Sometimes they involve arriving early or just being able to visit for a day. Once it involved lots of underground tunnels and passageways. A good idea for next year...

warrior queen · Post by **warrior queen** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:57 pm

My funniest dream was the first time sleeping in my own bed after getting back, I woke up all excited because someone had "massively improved my tent, and there were plants and the wall and everything!" and then I realized I was just at home

Rian Jackson · Post by **Rian Jackson** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:58 pm

i dreamt i was at Tokyo, drunk. i got shoveled into a gurney by my coworker because a medical case came in.

she gave me a push and i was on my back, flying across playa to some random place where i met a bunch of folks....

mcsean · Post by **mcsean** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:00 pm

great topic--in short BM completely changed my dream scape after last year--which was my first time--got home and every nite for a month--they faded a bit after that--but now i ve noticed that even if the dream isnt burning manesque--it will still be located out on the playa--as in "mom, what are you doing in black rock city , and why are you wearing my little league baseball uniform?"--------sweet desert dreams

mcsean · Post by **mcsean** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:33 pm

great topic--in short BM completely changed my dream scape after last year--which was my first time--got home and every nite for a month--they faded a bit after that--but now i ve noticed that even if the dream isnt burning manesque--it will still be located out on the playa--as in "mom, what are you doing in black rock city , and why are you wearing my little league baseball uniform?"--------sweet desert dreams

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:57 am

since next year's topic is dreams and the subconscious, what a perfect discussion to get us dreaming. it's funny about the power of suggestion and that also of conversation. after reading and posting to this thread last week, i remembered my first playa dream.

souldancer · Post by **souldancer** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:32 am

I too have had dreams about Burning Man almost every night since I got back. In the most recent one I took a couple people from work with me. As soon as we got to the playa I started thinking how it seemed like I had JUST been to Burning Man, how I didn't have ANY gifts made, and how my husband and I didn't do any art that we have planned. And then I realized I was dreaming. I even remember looking at my co workers and saying, "You're going to hate this, but I'm only dreaming, and we aren't really here." Needless to say, they were kind of upset. I think at that point I thought, if I'm dreaming maybe this is a good time to learn how to fly, and then I can't remember anything after that. Maybe I woke up. But it was pretty interesting. It's pretty fun to dream about Burning Man.

ryanicus · Post by **ryanicus** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:21 am

I dream a lot about watching the sun rise and the sun set behind those beautiful black mountains. I find myself cuddled up in my bed just thinking about those wonderful moments...

Rian Jackson · Post by **Rian Jackson** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:15 am

ok, it's a little wacky and nearly OT, but the thing i noticed upon returning from BM this year is that i'm dreaming again.

i think i've been processing through such nasty trauma that my conscious mind wouldn't take it. i never remembered my dreams, expect the occasional one which was all war and blood and guns and tanks and death. even remembering those was a victory.

and then, the weekend after the burn, i had two beautiful dreams that had nothing to do with violence or death. it's brilliant to be able to dream again. first back to back decent dreams in nearly a year now.

and that, my friends, was my gift from the playa....

tuna guys · Post by **tuna guys** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 2:51 pm

Do I dream of burning man, ofcourse... I day dream of burning man, I think of burning man, I feel it through friends, music... those little things that bring you back.. like listening to an old song and feeling like you did when you were eight. I have dejavu constantly.. during and after, the more intuative part of me just explodes when I'm on the playa... and it can't help but effect my dreams.. I dream of the people.. the art.. wondering aimlessly. etc etc...

atossab · Post by **atossab** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 5:28 pm

Last night one of many burning man dreams: packing up to leave the playa, sweeping up a strange structure/shelter which we'd all stayed in for the week. Noticed a big pile of poop and thought, "No way I'M cleaning that up." Almost done when it starts to pour rain, an amazing beautiful cleansing rain. I take my boyfriends hand and we both stand under the rain, heads ack, smiling. I look at him and say, "I guess we can't leave now, we'll have to wait for the ground to dry."

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:54 pm

this is a great thread. Dreams seem to open another vital context for understanding things. Since I believe in the Patanjalian concept of time ( past present and future are happening at once, they are percieved to be on different planes) dreams are just as important as reality in that they transcend time and can be of great value in understanding the self. In fact, I think dreams tend to speak to deeper levels....now, I know some dreams are wacky and dumb, I'm not speaking about those kinds. Dreams may be the portal through which deeper layers of mind manifest themselves. I believe meditation and psychedelics can do the same thing ( again, that too is found in Patanjali). And since all things are happening at once, the nature of those things must be accessible with the right "combination" "code" "approach". The Aboriginals revere "Dream Time" ...it is at the heart of the way they understand life. We as a Burningman culture, may be moving into something of a similar path. Dream on!

Imagigrl · Post by **Imagigrl** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:04 am

And I thought it was just me in my subconcious meanderings with The Man in my dream vortex. It's that derned blue neon outline of The Man pulling me towards it from across the great expanse of the desert. Sometimes I fly all the way from the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and, sometimes, I'm a happy hitchhiker on the road to Black Rock City. My most recent dream was that I could hear the night time explosiveness of BRC long before I could bound over the desert hillsides to at last see the city lights beautifully line the desert floor. Other dreams consist of The Man in almost invisible spirit, standing, somberly waiting alone on the clean, undisturbed dusty ground of the playa meditatively awaiting his next splendiforous ascension. I always wake up renewed after these dreams and with new ideas for the next burn. What I enjoy most is the burned in image of the symbol of The Man shooting out from my mind's eye in the gentle darkness that lies behind my closed eyelids. The symbol is strongest the closer I get to the gate. It's bizarre how this happens... and all surprisingly drug free (including alcohol, excluding caffeine of course... can't make the long journey without that good ol' Mountain Dew). Simply put, the experience of Burning Man remains with me throughout the entire year... at least in my dreams and in his symbollic image whenever I close my eyes. I just watched "Logan's Run" last night. "There is noooo sanctuary..." Uh, I beg to differ, it's longitude and latitude are consistent with the exact location of where The Man stands waiting. 2005, here I come!!!

TheMuse · Post by **TheMuse** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:26 am

I dream of Burning Man on average about once a week. As the event draws closer I tend to have dreams where I arrive on the playa without all of my stuff and fret over whether or not to drive home 8hrs to get it all.

And of course I daydream about it everyday.

chineseobelisk · Post by **chineseobelisk** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:58 pm

TheMuse wrote: I tend to have dreams where I arrive on the playa without all of my stuff and fret over whether or not to drive home 8hrs to get it all.

-Sounds pretty similar to the 'showingupatschoolnaked' dream....

And in a semi related vein...I keep having these dreams,...a few nights ago I dreamed that I was a yurt...and then last night I dreamed I was a teepee... so today I called my doctor to see if he could tell me what's wrong and he says 'Ah, that's easy... obviously you are two tense!'

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......oh... I kill myself...

thehunt · Post by **thehunt** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:39 pm

Burning Man Dreams are something I have often

probably one out of every 3 or less dreams has some BM elements in it.

BUMP

wovenone · Post by **wovenone** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:20 pm

i don't know if anyone has mentioned yet - i didn't have time to read all this thread - but next year's theme is DREAMS AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS.

Do You Dream of Burning Man?

ALL THE TIME

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

something's going on

Re: something's going on

Levels of Reality

Burning Man Dreams are something I have often