Tag Archives: Burning Man

The Burning Man is linked to orgies ‘and things’

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I like the entire concept of ‘Burning Man’. So much so that it’s my hope that SLN have a presence at the SL version this year.

What I like about it is the freedom of expression, the art, the sense of being individuals in an increasingly homogenised world.

I like News, too, particularly news with a societal angle that has ripples from history, particularly in the context of the islands previously known as  ‘the British Isles’ (i.e. the current United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland). Because that’s part of ‘the day job’.

As a result I do a lot of clicking around news stories that may be of benefit to my job in respect of how their occurrence, and the reaction to these events, do not happen in isolation. I won’t go into much detail about the short, medium or long term history of Ireland, specifically Northern Ireland, because we haven’t got hours for you to even obtain a veneer of knowledge about the subject, and it’s not really relevant to SL or SL naturism.

But this story, from BBC Northern Ireland, caught my eye this morning. Essentially a Presbyterian minister has declared that an art project, built, visited and which will eventually be burned in the city of Derry, as with Burning Man himself, to be ‘pagan’. Hmm…it’s not as if Christianity didn’t nail their colours to the mast of Pagan worship practices in order to make Christianity more amenable to previously Pagan tribes in the British Isles (and elsewhere), is it?

I looked into the Burning Man which is similar to this and a culture has developed that anything goes.

“The Burning Man is linked to orgies and things.

“My fear that is that we go down a similar route to this in the future.

“Dealing with loss is extremely difficult but the burning of the temple is contrary to what the Bible says.

“It’s not the way to God.”…

…says the minister in question.

Seriously? The Burning Man is linked to orgies and things? What are these ‘things’? Drug taking? Gang rapes? Stamp collecting? A discussion on the life and times of Irish author WB Yeats? What things exactly?
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Burning Man features quite a bit of nudity. So what? And only a fool would deny that it’s devoid of drugs or sexual activity. There may even have been an orgy or two, after all the festival has its own ‘Orgydome’. Equally, the Burning Man wiki entry defines key elements of its purpose as

radical inclusion
gifting
decommodification
radical self-reliance
radical self-expression
communal effort
civic responsibility
leaving no trace
participation
immediacy.

Inclusivity, communal effort, civic responsibility, participation…aren’t these all key elements of the teachings of Jesus?

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Perhaps the ‘decommodification’ of society, the rejection of materialism, the lack of ‘coveting thy neighbours goods’ is in line with Biblical teaching too. Am I alone in thinking that the values of the counter-culture are more likely to lead a way to God? (Perhaps not in the sense of singing hymns and so on, but certainly in the sense of a good, Christian spirituality, even if the word ‘Christian’ isn’t used once).

But why focus on those values when you can focus, instead, on orgies and ‘things’?

Ella

The Hipster Fair, 2015

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The Hipster Fair, 2015, is coming. It begins on February 1st.

Of course we’ll be popping along! I think there’s a definite link with hipsters, hippies and naturism, as they’re all part of a counter-culture, naturism certainly being part of an alternative lifestyles concept before the phrases ‘counter culture’ and ‘alternative lifestyles’ were coined. 260089492

Think of things like Russia’s Empty Hills festival, the Burning Man festival. There’s still a sense of those leading an alternative lifestyle also being politically switched on in an era where much of the planet seems drugged up on soap opera and football to the point where they can’t think or do anything to create a fairer world. It’s left to the hipster kids, with their dreads, tattoos, loose fitting clothing that will readily be shed in a celebration of the human body, to lead the politics. Eco-warriors? Aren’t they now leading ‘green’ politics around the globe? Didn’t they protest for nuclear dis-armament? Aren’t they objecting to ‘fracking’?tumblr_n5g9tdrNUJ1r7rtopo1_500 tumblr_ngxqf6On2x1ti9po7o1_1280

Sl has its own ‘Burning Man’ festival (in October, I think) and this year I fully intend SLN to be part of that, by setting up part of a sim, if we possibly can, to run an SLN sponsored ‘Critical Tits‘ bike ride, reflecting the RL ‘Burning Man’s’ topless or nude bike ride.

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Riders at Burning Man’s ‘Critical Tits’ bike ride

In anticipation of that, the Hipster Fair will be our first stopping off point of the year with intentions to at least be (semi) clothed when the time comes to book a part sim in order to be part of SL’s own ‘Burning Man’ festival. We’ll update on the Hipster Fair closer to the time.

Ella