The 10 Principles of Burning Man
Radical Inclusion
We welcome and respect the stranger.
No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
To me, radical inclusion means that this is an event free of judgement, ridicule, or shaming. It is an Libertarian ideal that people are free to be and express themselves as they choose (as long as it doesn't negatively impact others).
Gifting
The value of a gift is unconditional.
Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
Much like Steemit, the community is based on a giving economy. Your goal is to gift to people with no expectation of trade or reward. Imagine it being Christmas all the time, and I having a goal to give to others as capable.
Decommodification
We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation.
We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
I find this principle fascinating. It is an immediate rebuttal to corporatism and exploration. People are not joining the burning man community to be advertised to or forced into one-sided transactions. It helps reduce the transactional nature of the rest of the world.
Radical Self-reliance
Self-Reliance is the push that you should come to the dessert completely independent. You should assume you can rely on anyone else. Radical implies to me that you should have extras and more than enough. With that extra capacity comes the room for the giving economy to flourish. If everyone needs 10, and everyone brings 11 or 12. Then everyone will have plenty.
Radical Self-expression
No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content.
It is offered as a gift to others.
In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
Once again, like Steemit, what can you bring to the event? What is uniquely 'you' that can be shared, expressed, and gifted to the community? I think its amazing principal and guides a lot of the art and joy that permeates Burning Man.
Communal Effort
We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
So, once you've arrived capable of self-reliance and pure self-expression, the goal is to direct that to the support of the community as a whole. How can you supplement the interactions and collaboration that is occurring so that the whole automatically equates to more than the sum of its parts.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmRJRoYtBV9PSEQRUZyDhzdNxM68GkWGFvuvQZhbBg9ABL/image.png)
Civic Responsibility
Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants.
They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
This principle highlights that this isn't anarchy in the dessert. Rules of law are still to be respected for everyone's own good.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmb38w3PfDEPPYdhJctiprB5KurnkAX7ZJtwFUDbRDHWdf/image.png)
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Leaving No Trace
We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather.
We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
Burning Man has the concept of 'MOOP', or 'Matter Out Of Place'. The goal after the event is for nothing to be left over. No trash. No mess. Nothing made worse by the presence of the community. I think this echo's the principle of self-reliance. Everyone is responsible for their own trash, and should respect the environment they are in by taking care of it.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmafidtYJL4ChqsuVgvWHhuty1YjwMZKxV2NSmzrH419pe/image.png)
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Participation
We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation.
We achieve being through doing.
Everyone is invited to work.
Everyone is invited to play.
We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
Once again, a very Steemit principal, everyone is ultimately transformed by adding to the community. Everyone is invited to interact, build, dance, act, explore. This allows everyone to grow and learn together.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcrQsXbtvDbJ68VVv2WpXKSLKD88GbfVCTfp4Y4nmnETK/image.png)
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Immediacy
We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers.
No idea can substitute for this experience.
And the final principle, the one encapsulated by the fact that the entire event disappears and the man and temple are burned at the end of of the week (the titular Burning Man), is that of immediacy. You are only here once, and it will all end. Recognition of that ending should make the current more potent and more valuable to you. Experience it now - while it is all here.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmTx8HZvLJr2GeB6niBHB71nowfHKAUzCCCcsrAJq54ZN1/image.png)
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Conclusion
Hope everyone enjoyed this tour of the 10 Principles of Burning Man. I find it fascinating how many of them could be applied to Steemit as the community grows. Principles like the giving economy, participation and community all align with what I've come to understand about Steemit. Let me know if you've enjoyed this post, and I'll continue to blog occasionally about Burning Man as I pack and prep. I offer no expertise, but only the excited learning of a newbie.
Previous Posts
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I felt totally Burned!
Yes, very steemit-principle-oriented... it's great if everyone contributes, but it's an invitation and it's voluntary. Cool!
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Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by SomethingSubtle from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
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The BM principles are somehow connected to the SteemIt philosophy and it's good to see them described here, well done !