There are a lot of things we bring with us when we come to the swamp.
Costumes. Camp gear. Art supplies. Bikes. Costumes we swear we’re going to wear this time. And, inevitably, a little more stuff than we came with.
But there is something else we hope you take with you when you leave: the Principles.
Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey wrote the original Ten Principles in 2004 as guiding lights for the growing Regional Network. They were never intended to be a rulebook. They were an attempt to put words to something that had already been taking shape within the community—a shared ethos built through participation, experimentation, generosity, responsibility, and connection.
Burnt Oranges has adopted those ten Principles as part of the culture we are building together. We have also embraced Consent as an eleventh principle, recognizing something our community has come to understand deeply: meaningful participation requires respect for boundaries, autonomy, and the right of every person to decide what they do and don’t want to experience.
These aren’t commandments.
They’re invitations.
An invitation to participate more deeply. To take responsibility for the space around you. To make something instead of waiting for someone else to make it for you. To give without keeping score. To experience the world directly.
And maybe most importantly, they’re an invitation to consider what happens when the weekend is over.
Because the Principles don’t belong exclusively to the playa, the swamp, or any temporary gathering place we create. If they only exist for one weekend, we’ve missed the point.
So as you read them, don’t just ask yourself what they mean at Afterburn.
Ask yourself what they could mean on Monday morning.
Anyone may be a part of our community. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation.
Radical Inclusion asks us to make room for people who aren’t like us, don’t know the rules yet, don’t have the right costume, don’t know anyone, or simply haven’t found their people yet.
It asks us to notice who isn’t in the room—and consider why.
At Afterburn, that might mean introducing yourself to the person sitting alone. It might mean making space for someone else’s idea. It might mean recognizing that a community isn’t truly inclusive just because everyone is technically allowed through the gate.
Who are you making room for?
And what would happen if you carried that instinct beyond the swamp?
We are devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not require a return or an exchange of equal value.
A gift doesn’t have to be something you can wrap.
It can be your time. Your art. Your music. A meal. A skill. A helping hand. A conversation. A ridiculous costume that makes someone laugh when they desperately needed it.
Gifting asks us to step outside the transactional mindset that tells us everything needs a price, an exchange, or a measurable return.
Give because you have something to give.
What could you give away in the default world without expecting anything back?
We seek to create social spaces free from commercial sponsorships, transactions, and advertising. We resist the substitution of consumption for participation.
The world outside these gates is very good at turning experiences into products.
Buy this. Subscribe to that. Upgrade. Upgrade again. Watch. Scroll. Purchase. Consume.
Decommodification asks us to imagine something different: a place where the most valuable things aren’t for sale.
At Afterburn, you don’t have to buy an experience to have one. You can make it.
Where in your everyday life could you choose participation over consumption?
Discover, exercise, and rely on your inner resources.
Self-reliance isn’t about doing everything alone.
It’s about knowing yourself well enough to recognize what you need, what you’re capable of, and when you need to ask for help.
Bring water. Bring food. Bring your flashlight. Plan ahead. Take responsibility for your own experience.
And then take that same confidence home with you.
What would it look like to trust yourself a little more?
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual.
You don’t need permission to be yourself.
Make the weird thing. Wear the ridiculous thing. Dance badly. Build something enormous. Sing loudly. Paint something no one understands. Bring an idea that has never existed before.
Your expression is yours to define, and the freedom to express yourself comes with the responsibility to respect the rights and boundaries of others.
What part of yourself have you been keeping tucked away because the default world told you it wasn’t practical, appropriate, or normal?
Maybe there’s a little more room for it than you think.
We value creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to build the spaces, networks, art, and connections that allow our community to thrive.
Nothing about this happens because one person does everything.
Someone builds the art. Someone runs the gate. Someone brings the coffee. Someone picks up the trash. Someone checks on a stranger. Someone fixes the thing that broke at 2 a.m.
Community is not something we arrive at.
It’s something we make.
And every person who contributes changes what becomes possible.
What could you build with the people around you if you stopped waiting for someone else to start?
We value civil society. Those who organize events take responsibility for public welfare and for conducting them in accordance with the law.
Radical participation doesn’t mean ignoring responsibility.
It means recognizing that our freedom exists alongside our responsibility to one another and to the places we gather.
We follow the rules that keep people safe. We respect our neighbors. We take responsibility for the impact we have on the world around us.
And we don’t leave the consequences for someone else to deal with.
Where could you take a little more responsibility for the community around you?
We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and strive to leave places better than we found them.
Leaving No Trace is about more than picking up your trash.
It’s about understanding that we are temporary guests in every place we gather.
The swamp isn’t a disposable backdrop for our weekend. It’s a place we have been trusted to use.
So we clean up. We restore. We notice the little things. We leave it better.
And maybe that’s a pretty good philosophy for the rest of life, too.
What would change if you tried to leave every place, every relationship, and every community a little better than you found it?
We are committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe transformative change happens through deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing.
There are no spectators at Afterburn.
You don’t have to build an art installation or volunteer for twelve hours to participate. You can bring a game. Teach someone a skill. Dance. Cook. Make music. Help a stranger. Clean up. Start a conversation.
Participation is the difference between watching something happen and helping make it happen.
Where are you waiting on the sidelines when you could step in?
Immediate experience is one of the most important touchstones of our culture. We seek to overcome the barriers between ourselves, one another, society, and the natural world.
Put the phone down.
Look around.
Listen to the person standing in front of you.
Feel the heat. Hear the music. Watch the fire. Get your feet dirty. Stay up too late talking about something that matters.
Immediacy reminds us that there is a world happening right now that cannot be fully experienced through a screen, a photograph, or a story someone else tells us.
What are you missing because you’re too busy documenting the moment to experience it?
Every person defines their own boundaries. We are responsible for seeking and respecting clear consent in every interaction.
Consent is not complicated, but it is essential.
Your body belongs to you. Your belongings belong to you. Your space belongs to you. Your experience belongs to you.
And the same is true for everyone else.
Consent isn’t assumed because someone said yes yesterday. It isn’t implied because everyone else is doing it. It isn’t waived because we’re at a Burn.
Ask.
Listen.
Respect the answer.
And remember that consent can change at any time.
What would our communities look like if we made enthusiastic, informed, ongoing consent the foundation of how we interacted with one another?
The swamp is temporary.
The Principles don’t have to be.
That’s the experiment.
Come here and practice radical inclusion. Practice gifting. Make something. Participate. Take responsibility. Leave no trace. Respect boundaries. Experience something directly.
Then take those practices home.
Take them to your workplace. Your neighborhood. Your friendships. Your family. Your next community meeting. The grocery store. The internet. Anywhere people are trying to figure out how to exist alongside one another.
Because maybe the most radical thing we can do isn’t creating a temporary world that feels different from the default world.
Maybe it’s taking what we learn here and changing the default world, one small interaction at a time.
So when you leave the swamp, what are you taking with you?
And more importantly:
What are you going to do with it?
“The Ten Symbols” created by Wick, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and is not associated with nor endorsed by the Burning Man Project. “The Ten Principles of Burning Man” created by Larry Harvey, is a registered copyright of Burning Man Project. “Burning Man” is a registered trademark of Decommodification LLC.
