Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving and the value of a gift is unconditional. It does not warrant a return or an exchange. Reciprocity is something special to earn never to expect.

The Burning Man community creates social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions or advertising. It resists the substitution of consumption for participatory experience. A philosophy of no exploitation preserves the spirit of gifting.

Burning Man encourages individuals to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources to contribute the experiences of others as well as their own. Empower people to reinforce and expand the mission.

Each person offers their own unique gifts. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its platform, message or voice. Respect people, and their rights and liberties, for expression is a gift from someone to someone else. Silence, passive aggressiveness and lying only erodes promise and purpose.

Community values, creative cooperation and collaboration is the spirit of people standing and working with other people under a common cause. Burning Man produces, promotes and protects social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction. This again isn’t something that’s created, it’s co-created and that’s the true spirit of community.

Civil society is highly valued and prioritized at Burning Man. Community members who organize events assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws. The experience is only as wonderful as experienced by everyone. You have to develop of culture where people feel accountability. They have to want to take responsibility and also take the lead in the caring and nurturing of culture and the people who define it.

I especially love this one. Burning Man without a doubt respects the environment and is committed to leaving no physical trace of any activities wherever they gather. Burners clean up after themselves and even strive to leave such places in a better state. Imagine if your organization only thought this way. I still visit companies, restaurants and resorts where recycling and composting have yet to become the working standard.

Radical participation is a primary construct of its ethic. Burning Man believes that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. As an introvert, I appreciate those who include me even though I try my best to step outside of my comfort zone to join in the celebration or cause with others. This can only be done by doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play.

Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in Burning Man’s culture. Participating now with purpose overcomes barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience. Experience is indeed everything.