Burning Knowledge- the Sacred Drug Culture of Burning Man


A hit of acid lovingly kept in a journal . An ornate, delicate hookah with a chamber full of weed. A pile of 'shrooms, wrapped in a Tibetan prayer flag. All placed on an alter, nestled beside candles, Goddess and God images and religious tools. The average American would see these as felonies in the making, drugs that hurt and distract. The average Burning Man participant, however, would see gateways into the realm of sacred knowledge.
The belief in mind-altering substances as a way to reach the divine has roots in America. Several earth-focused religions celebrated the planet's natural gifts, from food and firewood to drugs and medicine. Native American medicine men have used peyote to aid them in vision quests long before Europeans came to these shores. Peyote, a type of cactus whose "buttons" can cause psychedelic response, was a central part of religious life among Mexican tribes. Pilgrimages were made to gather the sacred plant; myths and ceremonies were constructed with peyote at the core. Further South, mushrooms with psychedelic qualities have helped Aztec shamans with their sacred journeys. They called them endearing names, like "little flowers", and used them with reverence... much to the horror of Spanish conquistadors. Both were forbidden by the Church; they used missionaries to try to convert the native people, and linked usage of sacred drugs to the Devil. The Church had driven religious drug use so far underground that no anthropologist or botanist had uncovered it. In fact, in 1916 an American botanist persuaded the public that peyote and mushrooms were one and the same. It wasn't until as recently as the 1930's that the differences between the two were noted.
Drug use is generally fraught with rituals and guidelines among indigenous people. While anyone can take them, they are considered to drive a person insane with over- or misuse. To assist with trance states, rhythms are applied, whether it be drums, chants or dance. Shamans sometimes train for long periods to be able to journey into the spirit world that peyote or other substances offer a doorway into, in order to prevent them becoming lost or losing their goal. Spiritual practices often involve talking directly to the spirit world, instead of about them, and the people have a clear connection to their Gods. Specific goals are maintained before going on one of these journeys, creating a focus and an end result that prevents the shaman from drifting. These details help to maintain a respect and purity towards the effects of the substance, and discourages casual usage.
A result of European control has been that Christianity, with its rigid rules and many restrictions, has swept the United States and become the declared "national religion". Driving Native Americans into small and generally uninhabitable reservations, people of European descent have spread over the country, bringing with them Christian values, fears and limitations. An example is that Christianity fears the Devil, a creature embodying all things evil; historically, this has included physical pleasure, questioning superiors, self-gratification, and the desire to live life fully. This has manifested itself through Puritanical laws and social codes of conduct that restrict sexuality, economic opportunities, marriage, media, and even the right to question government and religious leaders. The Religious Right has done much to try and shut out other viewpoints- abstinence-only education has flooded schools, while the separation of church and state is no longer as clear as it once was.
Of course, this wave of Christian values also affected the view of religious drug use, and, arguably, altered the way people have decided to partake in them. Substances that were once viewed as sacred, bound in ritual and divinity, were now seen as evil temptations that drove people insane and created monsters. As drugs sank into the gritty underground of culture, the reasons for their usage also became more self-destructive; substances once used for personal exploration and introspection were now used primarily for escaping daily troubles. Far from ending, or even discouraging, the use of drugs as a recreational or escapist tool, these restrictions around the use of mind-altering substances (and the lack of willingness to discuss other options) seems to have backfired. A lack of ritual and cultural restrictions around these drugs probably contributed to the likelihood of their abuse, which, in turn, proved the Religious Right's point that drugs cause havoc and ruin lives. This Catch-22 created by Christianity and the government helps keep these substances illegal, and the prejudices around drug users intact, regardless what they use them for. I also shared these views- that anything that could be achieved through drugs could be attained without them, and that these substances were a crutch.
At least, that's how I felt... until I went to Burning Man. Burning Man is a giant get together in the desert, lasting up to a week. It's often spoken of as the place to go for crazy costumes, perverted pleasures, inspiring art and copious amounts of drugs. As a newcomer from Massachusetts, I quickly immersed myself into the San Francisco Burner subculture, it being the most prominent subculture I saw around me. After a year and a half living in the Bay Area, hearing about this event, I finally got up the money and nerve to head out there. There, in the Nevada desert, I witnessed what I would consider a revitalization movement in action- a movement away from the dominant, abstinent culture, into a relaxed, responsibly hedonistic way of life. If there was ever a desire to create a more satisfying culture, this was it.
Drugs were everywhere, definitely. Anything you would possibly want, you could get- there were more drugs around than on a NYC street. But the people using the drugs weren't sitting silently, or acting inappropriately... in fact, I found groups of people on the same drug, chanting, meditating, or doing yoga together. This wasn't the depravity I had been led to believe drug use would cause, and these people weren't raving or fiending. Instead, they had readied their bodies for the drug, and collected together to ritualize its use into a collective introspective journey. Instead of making judgments about the visions they received, they accepted what they saw as lessons to be learned, however hard they may be to experience. Here was the modern shaman, using mind-altering substances to better understand themselves and their world. The respect was there; it was obvious in the way these participants handled the substance and each other. The purpose was clear. These people, whether they knew it or not, were treating the psychedelics as magical substances, much like indigenous people did before the invasion of Europeans. They also didn't feel addicted to the drug; many folks said they only did it a few times a year, if that, and kept ritual forms around its use to formalize the affair.
I feel like parallels could be drawn between the Native American Church, Rastafarians and Burners. All three usually view mind-altering substances as a sacrament, something to take seriously. Native Americans have suffered at the hands of white greed, where Rastafarians have suffered at the hands of both Jamaican scorn and wealthy apathy. Burners, on the other hand, tend to have been the freaks in school- perhaps they are racial minorities, or maybe they were sexually discriminated against. All three have a healthy respect for the earth, and a desire to move away from and beyond consumerist living. All three tend towards community discussion and respect, where good leadership is more important than money or labels. Finally, all three use sacred drug use to better understand the balance in the world, to help them attain inner peace, and to learn from more than just this plane of existence. The Native American Church is a way to revitalize Native American society, to create an indigenous form of Christianity that made sense within their culture. Rastafari is a path of revitalization in Jamaican culture, that harkens back to an Utopian Africa. Burners, I feel, are creating a revitalization movement that makes sense to them- creating a culture and spirituality that embraces sexuality, spiritual drug use and community. In a country that emphasizes individuality and self-service, Burning Man celebrates individuals as part of a whole, trying to push away the greed of consumerist America. All three paths are focused on creating a more satisfying culture within the current, dominant culture, and often reject the majority mindset. I would also argue that all three reject European greed and capitalism, and the movements are the result of a furious push against those things. While Native Americans and Jamaicans have a clear natavistic priority, Burners don't have a specific "alien people" to drive out; however, I believe the "alien people" would be the Religious Right and capitalists. I think all three have a clean-cut revivalistic tone, readopting past customs and values that have been tossed aside by the majority. They all are working to transform current society into a more pleasing and healthier one that respects its inhabitants.
I believe that Burning Man, especially in its treatment of drugs, is a revitalization movement for the United States. I see it as a reaction to our consumerist, Christian culture, a slap in the face to government sanctioned "family values" and "morality codes". The morality code of Burning Man culture encourages personal responsibility while also celebrating personal choice, and the spiritual creeds are "follow your bliss" and "leave no trace". Although these people come from many varied cultures, many of which never used psychedelic substances for sacred purposes, they have discovered the path shamans and medicine men have walked for centuries and chosen it. While I don't debate that there is a frightening number of drug abusers, I have learned that not all those who partake in substances are "users". Revitalization movements tend to be political, as well as personal. They are meant to bring those involved in them back to a time before and beyond current boundaries, into a world that is more satisfying. I believe the society of Burners hold valuable insight into how to transform our current dysfunctional society into one based on participation, trade and personal responsibility. If that's not a revitalization for this multicultural country of ours... I'm not sure what is.