the family we choose

[Silver 2]

Been gone for a while but now as things slow down a bit around the end of the year I been lurking and posting a bit.

This morning I was checking out some of the threads that I have missed and decided that a letter I wrote yesterday addresses some of the issues that I have seen lately. One of the statements in S.F.Gate's artical said much what I wrote yesterday: "... people you would never put together are here like it's our family reunion."

On Thanksgiving I had dinner for those who were at loose ends for the holiday. I got a thank you email from some folks who had just moved out from the West coast. The following is much of my reply:

And thank you for coming. Sean used the term yesterday 'the family we choose'. I first heard the term over 2 years ago at a burner Christmas gathering. All this ties into some of what we were discussing before dinner, as families get more spread out and as the culture gap between families widen, the families we choose become more important to people. We all need a sense of community and burner (I know that some folks don't like the term, tough, we need a name and that seems to be the de facto choice) community provides that community and closeness.

I was talking to Amy several weeks ago and said 'I like more people now than I ever have'. She brightened and said 'Me too, all these wonderful people.'

Welcome to this branch of the family.

Back to now, as you can see from my new picture I have a new hobby, trying to set myself on fire. Fun stuff and while I was only a safty last weekend I actually got paid for doing stuff that I usually do for free. Next stop, actually being a performing member of the group. Staff esp. the way I do it precludes indoor performances.

[Zulegoona]

It’s good to have you back around Silver, and I couldn’t agree more about the family feel of the Burner community.. One of the things I appreciate most about the people, is unlike many groups of friends you might choose who would likely be more like yourself the community of Burners is diverse in many ways. People you might not automatically choose as a friend , or even particularly like at first you develop a feeling of family for. These are our people, even the curmudgeons , the flakes, the hippies, ravers, libertarians/conservatives , every one, all ages, genders, orientations, races, and belief systems . I may not always appreciate or approve of what they do, some of them are even hard to be around but they are family. I enjoy, and accept them for who they are, and who they help me be. They expand my world, not just reinforce my view point.

I wonder if this feeling is true for other self selected communities of interest, and if not what it is about Burning Man that fosters this sense of family.

by the way is there any of that pie left?

[the fire elf]

"I wonder if this feeling is true for other self selected communities of interest, and if not what it is about Burning Man that fosters this sense of family. "

levels and degrees, as nazirmoreh would say

i say that life is what you make it

Burning Man is a surprise waiting to happen

[HughMungus]

[quote="the fire elf"]I wonder if this feeling is true for other self selected communities of interest, and if not what it is about Burning Man that fosters this sense of family. "

levels and degrees, as nazirmoreh would say

i say that life is what you make it

Burning Man is a surprise waiting to happen[/quote]

Yeah, it's not just burning man fostering feelings of family. Me and all of my friends feel a lot closer to each other than our siblings. It's not that they don't love their family; it's just that we have more in common with our friends than we do our families. This point was brought home to my father's house at Thanksgiving time). We're in totally different worlds, all of us. We still love each other and I try to get involved with their live s in various, positive ways, but, for example, I don't talk to them as much as I do my real friends. Weird that my family knows less about me than m friends do. Maybe that's how it's suposed to be for the middle child."' I had had hope that somewhere I would find my tribe and I did. Yeah, not everyone there feels like part of it, but, the important ones in my life do...

Now if I can just get over the feeling that my local non-burner friends are "less" to me because they haven't gone and/or went and are not into it then I'll be a lot happier.

[elf's ride]

"Now if I can just get over the feeling"

ascension is the art of rising above

the traditional ishayas teach an effective technique

my nontraditional technique was recently described by an ishaya maharishi:

"Roberts techniques were designed to uplift the personal world and to deify the personal expression."