Larry Harvey’s Thought for the Day

Larry Harvey, founder of Burning Man, spoke last night at the debut of City Repair’s new event space on N. Vancouver, near the Rose Quarter. He said many interesting things about the culture of the Burning Man community, in the desert and in “Burners without Borders” throughout the United States. Some things he mentioned as core concepts of the Black Rock City experience reminded me of neighborhood and school involvement, Friends of Trees plantings, City Repair projects, and suchlike here in Portland – people working together to overcome challenges, giving to each other with no expectation of return, the rules not always entirely clear, etc. He talked about the progression in a person’s thinking, from “I am” through “We are” to “It is”, leading to “We are together”. From “radical self-expression” through self-discovery to “enlarged identity”. People make that journey where they live, work, and play year round, as well as intensely and extremely at Burning Man – sharing “the experience of being, becoming, and belonging”.

Larry Harvey termed his closing thought “a zinger”, and for me, it was. He said:

“Changing the world can seem a formidable task. The walls that have been built to stop us seem as hard as cement. But remember, a single blade of grass can buckle concrete – all that’s needed is a tiny crack in which a seed can rest and grow. Then the forces of nature can take over.”

An answering chime in my mind responded: Public Campaign Financing is one seed that can find a hairline fracture in the barricades keeping neighbors out of the power structure in Portland. From “I am” to “We are together”.