I don't "get it". Can you help me?

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 2:03 pm

dr.placebo wrote: So, if you love the ideals then you've "got it." If you think that there are kindred souls at the event then you've "got it." And if you are brave enough to put up with the jerks and cranks then you might get to "keep it."

I know that BM is too big and too techno and too noisy and that there are gawkers and leeches and so forth. Name your poison and BM is big enough to have it.

However, the question is not whether BM is too big. The question is whether we are big enough. Are we big enough to create and love and play, to dance and make music, and to forgive each other?

And if I ever stop feeling brave enough to risk those things, then I will move from "got it" to "lost it." Right now, though, I want to be back on the playa and get it all over again, and bring back as much as I can.

SWOOON!!!!

Bitterman · Post by **Bitterman** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 11:27 pm

I just read the "I'm sorry" thread and I gotta say, Sobretta, I'm sorry. I know yer over me and all, but, I just had to try and heal.

teeto · Post by **teeto** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:37 pm

I was a first year burner this year who attended with 2 other virgens.....I GOT IT as soon as they said "welcome home, we've been waiting for you" at the greeter gate...a warm feeling spread throughout my body and i felt like crying........
my 2 cohorts on the other hand........one "got it" after meeting a friendly playa pal...........the other one , whom i thought would definatley get it, let his inner frat bro surface and became a royal pain for everybody...luckily he left wed.....anywho...it takes open individuals to "get it"....not everyone that attends, no matter how open they may think they are, will ever "get it"...thats what Coachella and those other fests are for...........

DiscoPup · Post by **DiscoPup** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:47 pm

My first Burn was this past year, after a year of preparation, research and general obssessing over it.

I didn't get it.

Or... if I did, I don't know that I got it.

So, I'm pretty much decided that I'm going back, just to see if I'll get it this time...

Hence the evil genius of Burning Man...
NO ONE gets it, they all just keep returning in the hopes that they will.

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:42 am

DiscoPup wrote:My first Burn was this past year, after a year of preparation, research and general obssessing over it.

I didn't get it.

Did your "obsessing over it" subside during the event? That might have been it.

Shinxy · Post by **Shinxy** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:03 pm

You're not going to get it until you say you do.

BRC_Santa2003 · Post by **BRC_Santa2003** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 10:26 am

If you were thinking you were going to find IT there, you need to define IT.

If IT was a weeklong party -- you got IT.
If IT was an open environment to express yourself -- you got IT.
If IT was sexual freedom -- you may have gotten IT.

but

If IT was the state of mind that so many veteran burners seem to have that allow them to participate and contribute to the experience without expecting a standing ovation, or an achievment award -- then you probably MISSED IT.

Let IT go!
Participate!
Experience!
Share!
Communicate!

When you least expect IT -- you will get IT.

IT is the journey -- not the destination.

VBS

killercrash26 · Post by **killercrash26** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 12:35 pm

BRC_Santa2003 wrote:
When you least expect IT -- you will get IT.

IT is the journey -- not the destination.

That ^^ is so right on...i havent ever been as i will be a virgin for the 05 event...but i feel myself already connected to alot of you, and yet anxious for the event. I feel almost that "it" is what keeps us going in a weird mixed up world. 'It' is like the anxiety i have for yet a vacation from work, which isnt till the event...but also the anticipation i feel to find people that feel the way i do, about this and everything else throughout the year. I am also looking for people intrested in finding themselves there, but just need some fellow people to keep them goin throughout this winter.

killercrash26 · Post by **killercrash26** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 12:37 pm

...or maybe if your having trouble getting 'it' maybe if you lose 'it' first, then it would be easier to see what 'it' actually was...

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 2:40 pm

Come back in 2005, it will be waiting for you, if you can find it. You will know it when you see it.

stickysunset · Post by **stickysunset** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 12:35 pm

i am IT.
i've been IT all my life.
IT became clear at my first burn.
home sweet home.
live IT yearlong.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 12:56 pm

Sorry, I keep trying to toss out too many teasers for my thing, I need to knock that off for a while. One thing I like about it, though, is yes, you are a very important part of the *it* but none of us individually represent it in its totality. We are each a facet if the greater it. The beauty of it is that it is never complete or incomplete, there is always room for another and if someone is missing, it is still there, complete in its willingness to be more yet satisfied that it is what it is. It is only when compared against expectations that it can disappoint. So it can not disappoint you, only you can cause that to happen.

It is you, yes, but not only you. You are a single brush stroke in a larger piece of art. Without you, it would be different.

I think that is how I most like to describe burning man to people. Each person is a living, breathing brush stroke with a mind of it's own on a canvas of playa. It is. We are. WHAT it is and WHAT we are is a waste of time for me to attempt to describe because by the time I have finished the description, it is obsolete, it has changed slightly. Open your eyes and see what it is, be what it is, make it beautiful, make it different, make it bold, participate. You can be an artist. You can make a difference. Without you it would be different. Make your mark, go!

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 7:42 am

Thanks, Geekster, for pulling back the curtain for us a bit. You're right. Describing IT is a language of pointing. This is not a pipe. This is a sentence about a pipe.

I am compelled to bid you welcome, Killercrash. One thing that helps me is to get one of those laminated full-year office calendars to give the countdown some perspective. I fear that I may still get sick of counting days and dissapear and find a new project for a while. You and I have plenty of time to build up expectations. I invite you to stop by my camp upon arrival so we can both raise a glass and banish our encrusted expectations to the far edges of the playa... or maybe that's when the sun goes down and we all start howling!

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 10:21 am

Jellyfish: I have that particular painting tattooed on my arm (adding yet one more layer). It's funny, though, because about 90% of people who see it don't get it (even if I tell them what it is), and about 90% of those who DO get it, think I don't.

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 7:54 pm

Ranger Genius wrote:Jellyfish: I have that particular painting tattooed on my arm (adding yet one more layer). It's funny, though, because about 90% of people who see it don't get it (even if I tell them what it is), and about 90% of those who DO get it, think I don't.

I have never wanted a tattoo until you told me that.
On the theme, there is a pretty good quote from Dr. Sigmond Freud: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". I would add: "...unless it is not a pipe".

III · Post by **III** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 8:07 pm

i don't get it.

killercrash26 · Post by **killercrash26** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 7:12 pm

hey mister jellyfish mister,
I definitley appreciate the welcome. I know i will be at my real home soon enough. I dont know really why im so drawn to this...especially being anxious in late-december. Anyways tho, i would love to enjoy a beverage on the playa...Have you ever been to any burns? I am looking for some people from my area...but im hoping to meet up with some people i have been chatting with back and forth with...once i get out there. Anyways, hit me up, or keep in touch and we can figure it all out soon enough. Later.

I don't "get it". Can you help me?

get it

Getting it.

Re: Getting it.

What 'IT' were you thinking you would find at BM?

Re: What 'IT' were you thinking you would find at BM?