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Answers collected in person on the playa, Burning Man 2022.
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The Story
I was surprised how many folks had to stop and think ablout the first answer. I'd have thought most of us had decided that by now. On the other hand, maybe they were considering not what they believed, but how they wanted to answer, what they wanted to profess to, or against, in public. At any rate, a lot of chin stroking and hmmming and hawing and "well that depends on what you mean"-ing. One wondered, "What if I believe there is only one soul and I'm a viewport for that only immortal soul? Then do I believe I have a soul, when in fact, a soul has me. Others were quite decisive and happily terse with their answer which I also appreciated, though maybe not quite as much fun.
The second question produced some unexpected results, which I kind of expected given the varying packages of thoughts about handguns. "I have a rifle, does that count?", one wondered. "No, only handguns count", I replied. The lead at a coffee camp became hostile and accused me of trying to make some sort of statement about the relationship beween firearms and religious belief. I pointed out that nothing in my language implied any connection and asked if maybe he was projecting. He calmed down and we talked about it over coffee with some other burners while I got a few more responses to my survey. When one lady found out how many women had said yes, she got excited about trying to get together some kind of burner women handgun enthusiasts soiree, which I found kind of charming.
And so it went for my first burning questions survey.
What I Found
Sometimes I asked the questions of random burners while wandering on the playa and along the streets of the city. Many of the exchanges happened around Global Warming, a fire feature on the Esplanade at the entrance to camp. A fire pit topped by a globe with the shapes of the continents cut out so the fire is visible through them, it warms the space in a special way. Surrounded by sturdy benches produced by one of our talented campers, the arrangement draws burners in at night like moths to a flame. This was a natural venue to have the kind of conversations in which folks, especially folks in certain altered states love participating. Global Warming was the site of many conversations I wish I had transcribed. It made the survey seem less like my subjects were being accosted than when I approached them in the open, although Black Rock City is where you can get away with that quite a bit. Coffee camps are another venue with willing candidates. It was a rewarding experience asking these questions, I decided. A practice worth repeating.