The Evolving World Burning Man 2009

STATS:  Days away from home: 15  Miles traveled: 4,435  States visited: 6  Digital pictures taken: 569  Rolls of 35mm film taken: 10  Refrigerator magnets bought: 5  Equipment broken/need to replace: dinner plate, salt & pepper shaker, folding chair, hydration pack, bicycle, shoes, flashlight, goggles, bigger table (to cook on)  Pennies crushed: 12

Back when I was going to Catholic school (which included a science class), it didn't seem like that big a deal. You see, in third grade or so, somebody in class asked about the differences between science and what was in the Bible. Our teacher (possibly Sister Beatrice Claire, one of my favorites) picked up a science book in one hand and a Bible in the other. "This," she said, holding up the Bible, "is for church." She put down the Bible. "This," she continued, holding up the science book, "is for science class. You don't teach the science book in church, and you don't teach the Bible in science class." And that was that.

It was a simple answer to a complex question.

Certainly, my journeys to Burning Man had become more complex over the years, but this year was more than just a road trip. I journeyed back into my own past, through my own history, and made some surprising discoveries. My simple memories stand in conflict to some hard truths. I'm still working it all out. The world as we know it continues to evolve all around us. It's a very human condition to constantly being in the process of working stuff out, finding answers to complex questions. Fortunately for us, complex questions can sometimes have very simple answers.

It's a paradox that, I suspect, provides God no small amount of amusement...