047: Stealing Fire, Part 3 / by Joe

Part Three: The Road to Eleusis

Chapter 8 - Catch a Fire
Chapter 9 - Burning Down the House
Chapter 10 - Hedonic Engineering

Topics:

  • Burning Man: it’s a unique thing, and hopefully Donald Trump doesn’t know it exists

  • How important is Burning Man after the event is over?

  • For the individual, it’s akin to the idea of an ayahuasca ceremony where people often say, “the real work is after the ceremony.” Integration of the inspiration is the “work”.

  • What about for the community or society at large? Burners without Borders, Black Rock Solar, and other indirect influences.

  • Mount Hugmore

  • Because Burning Man is so inaccessible and inhospitable, attendance requires effort, planning, and intention, which fosters a grateful and positive community.

  • Summit Series: ski trip for the ultra successful

  • Mindfulness: it’s big business!

  • Yoga is bigger than football

  • The internet is doomed to be a tool of hegemony

  • Consequentialism vs. Intentionalism

  • Social media’s ability to divide populations in half in order to increase the marketable population of consumers, even more effective than 24 hour cable news

  • The term “conspiracy theory” was invented by the CIA

  • Weapons designed to turn us all into masturbating monkeys

  • Hedonic Engineering: get high with intention, and on a schedule that works best for you

  • “After the ecstasy, the laundry.”

  • Wabi Sabi - Japanese concept that values transience and imperfection

  • “The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” - William Butler Yeats

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”

- Leonard Cohen