The Desert Fathers were hermits, ascetics, monks, and nuns (Desert Mothers) who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD. The most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony died in 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example — his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, wrote that "the desert had become a city".[1] The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Early Christianity.
I've always believed that the desert is a sacred place. That belief respects the forms of Desert Christianity but doesn't place any limitations on other interpretations of spirituality and mystical experience in the desert.
Burning Man is above all else a venue for mystical experience.
