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Learn about me & my missionSeptember 15th, 2025 | Burning Man: The Serendipity Machine. The Path to the Woods Goes through the Desert.
Last Updated on: September 27th 2025
This text was fully written by a human.
This summer, I started getting recurring intrusive thoughts. In fact, they told me to overrule my previous resolution and come back to the desert of Nevada. Well, don’t you argue with your intuition?
So, eventually, about three weeks before the festival, I surrendered to that feeling, booked a plane ticket, and just went. Here is what happened next.
Burning Man AD 2022: The Burned-out Tourist.
In 2022, right after the lockdown, I arrived in California for the first time in many years.
I had worked hard during the pandemic and developed the core of our products for Ontology of Value, working around the clock for two years straight. And so right after that crazy ride, in the summer of 2022, I felt tired and burned out. I badly needed to ventilate my head.
This is when a great blessing happened: Nicole Borgaard, a seasoned Burner, crossed my path for the first time. We clicked immediately, and soon enough, she became a great friend of mine. In fact, I’m about to serve as her bridesmaid this October.
Back then, she was just packing for Burning Man. Indeed, she happened to have free space in her car and tent, which she kindly offered to me.
And so we went together. On the way to the desert, Nicole shared the full history of the festival with me. She explained why it’s so special to her and to the world.
I got excited about the whole concept and took a resolution to see (and experience) it all. I did spend the whole festival sightseeing and treating the festival like a huge amusement park, and I even wrote a full-length essay about that.
Was the Time Investment Worth It?
In the process, I figured that preparations for the festival, decompression, and getting back to reality can take real time. In fact, it can take way more time than the festival itself.
It’s a huge time investment, and in many ways, it didn’t seem worthwhile to do it every year. That’s especially true while leading a company, and especially in my case.
Why? Well, Americans travel to the desert primarily to take off their masks and to carry out honest conversations about life. That’s something they don’t usually do in their daily lives.
Well, I do have honest conversations every day; it is basically my life. I don’t practice small talk — frankly, I’m not capable of small talk anyway.
And I don’t have to go to the desert of Nevada to open people up. My conclusion, at that point, was: “Never again — unless I have a serious relationship to test in combat.”
So Why Did I Decide to Go Back in 2025?
And then, quite recently, strange things started happening. After the trip to India this spring, my intuition started working much better and speaking much louder.
Funny enough, this is what Steve Jobs used to say about his 7-month stay in India in the first place. It helped him develop his intuitive mind, and he used to attribute all his subsequent success in tech to that experience.
Anyway, this summer, I started getting recurring intrusive thoughts telling me to overrule my previous resolution and go to the festival once again. Well, don’t you argue with your intuition…
So, eventually, about three weeks before the festival, I surrendered to that feeling. I booked a plane ticket, and I just went.
FYI: ever since 2023, it’s been easy to get a ticket to BM second hand. That’s because the recession in the tech job market means the festival no longer sells out.
…One dilemma I faced was my health. Just three weeks before the festival, I landed in the ER with second-degree sunburns all over my body.
I lost several layers of skin on my shoulders and legs and was generally in pretty bad shape. That’s hardly the ideal starting point for Burning Man, where I’d be exposed to even more sun.
Three weeks felt far too short to grow new skin, but I was counting on the fact that I usually recover quickly. Something inside me kept saying I was still good to go — however counterintuitive that might have sounded.
The Game Plan For 2025.
This time around, I didn’t depart for Burning Man as a mere tourist, though; I was much more self-aware than the previous time. And I decided: less is more.
If I want to do and see everything at the Playa, I will not get anywhere eventually. I need to be selective.
And so I’m not going there for the art this time, I’m not there for the drugs, and I’m certainly not there looking for trouble. I will also ignore most of the experiences offered by the Playa (and trust me, you can find virtually anything in there, from massages, through extreme sports, fortune tellers, lectures about spirituality, self-development workshops of all kinds…). I’m there for the people, and for the music.
So, what was the game plan this time? Quite simple. I’d list a few elements here:
0. No Camp. No Friends.
This time around, I decided to deliberately NOT join any camp. Why? Because joining a camp means you tie your hands with additional duties, and as such, you are not entirely free to experience the festival.
Plus, if you live in a camp-free zone (known as Hoverlandia) no one really knows where you stay. That’s actually a plus, since no one can bother you.
I decided not to tell my Bay Area friends where I was staying and not make any arrangements to see them. In Poland, we like to say: ”Don’t bring wood to the forest.” Yep, I was going there to make brand new friends rather than stay in the same sauce.
Many people fear the solitude and loneliness of traveling alone. But that’s definitely not me. Especially after my trip to India, where I spent the second half alone and had a wonderful time, I had a realization.
Having no ties and no agenda dictated by a group is my favorite way to experience both events and challenges. That’s why I had no doubt this was the right path for me.
I would even say more: I believe there are three kinds of people that are under special protection from gods: kids, passionate souls, and lone travelers. After all, whenever I travel alone, I feel blessed wherever I go. And since I happen to be both an eternal kid and a passionate person as well, I had no worries on my mind at all.
Plus, Hoverlandia also has a great location, 6:15 & I, which is almost perfectly at the central 6th hour. Which is what makes the geodesic distance to almost anywhere at the Playa conveniently low.
1. The Reputation Game.
To start with, I’ve recently figured that with the current progress in agentic AI, it is becoming increasingly hard to even contact people these days. If you don’t have enough seminal connections in real life. That is: if people don’t pick up the phone when necessary, you will soon be incapacitated from fixing any problem.
So, to increase playability in your career, it’s best to go talk directly to a well-filtered crowd of people. Notably, make sure that you connect in real life. And, that they remember you.
The thing is: Burning Man puts people under a few filters at a time. Festival participants need to be willing to take a lot of physical inconvenience. The reality is: you will spit sand and blood even a few weeks after the festival.
On top of that, they must bear the costs, enjoy and celebrate people of all backgrounds, and highly value art and tech. The Burning Man’s crowd is a mixture of countercultural techies, artists, researchers, and travelers from all around the globe.
A gold mine of fascinating individuals. I’d even argue that the festival is the informal capital of the world.
2. Solve For Serendipity.
In my business, I help people upgrade and change careers. And as a matter of fact, a lot of people come to the festival because they’re burned out and need some spark of inspiration. That’s just what happened to me in 2022.
Many of these people are techies with long and interesting stories behind. It’s a perfect playground for serendipity: just listen to what people say, turn on your career strategist mode, and help out. Enjoy all the benevolent things that happen as a result, both for your business and for you.
And frankly, the whole festival is engineered to solve for serendipity. The team around the festival is prepared for absolutely everything (well, except for murder during the burn, so it seems). They even have a hospital with a great team of surgeons in case someone needs a life-saving operation or spontaneously gives birth.
There’s also a priest in case someone spontaneously wants to get married. They are set for everything.
3. The Keys to Silicon Valley.
As mentioned before, there are lots of techies at Burning Man. And that gives yet another set of keys to open doors in Silicon Valley.
In Silicon Valley, everything that is of value is locked behind some doors. At the same time, to open any door, you need a key. For instance, building a unicorn opens doors.
Working directly with household names in the VC world opens doors. Becoming a Stanford alumnus opens many doors.
Becoming a YC alumnus opens doors. These are the standard, or the default keys.
I know for a fact that I wouldn’t function well in this system. So, I consciously decided to get off that beaten path — so, I’m collecting my own, alternative set of keys. Likewise, I already learned that a PhD in Computational Neuroscience opens surprisingly many doors in the Valley.
Cringy humor opens doors. Writing essays opens doors. Getting familiar with Indian culture opens doors.
Burning Man is another opportunity to learn how Silicon Valley works behind the curtain and open a few more locks.
4. DeLorean.
As an exercise, I wanted to test the limits of Burning Man and check how much “Playa provides.” As a test, I selected a rare model of a car known as DeLorean (known mostly for being featured in the iconic movie “Back to the Future”) — preferably from 1986, as both the Burning Man festival and I were born in that year.
I’m not sure if I would necessarily buy it now, especially since I don’t live in the US full-time. I also have nowhere to store the car. BUT, I’d like to see if it is possible to find an owner of an item as rare as a DeLorean ’86 in the Playa.
5. Dancing.
I generally don’t regret things — but if there is anything I swear I would have done differently the next time around, it would have been dancing more. When I go dancing, nothing else matters.
The rest of the world could not exist. Overall, dancing is winning here and now.
And when I look back, I did take a few courses in dance. That included hip hop and salsa in my undergrad studies, and tango at grad school.
But I don’t care about the steps after all. Dance is just a means to self-therapy and self-expression.
I have lots of bright memories of dancing with my peers from grad school at neuroscientific conferences around the world during my 8-year career in neuroscience. In short, you would be surprised how well nerds can dance! Well, perhaps we all needed self-therapy, and that’s that…
Anyways, the best moments I remember are sessions of freestyle dancing in my own garage during the pandemic. I used to do that late at night so that my own tenants couldn’t see this mayhem happening.
They say this is exactly how you should dance: dance as if nobody were looking. And so I used to come out sweaty, bruised, and happy.
Burning Man is the very place where no one cares about the steps. You can whip the floor with your butt as much as you wish, and people are happy for you.
6. Furries.
Silicon Valley is full of countercultural, niche, underground communities. You can find fans of almost anything flocking together here.
One of these mystical communities, hard to spot from the level of the street, is furries. It’s people who choose their alternative identity in the form of an animal. Once in a while, they manifest that animal by dressing up in a full-body costume, usually one tailor-made for them.
I met a few furries before, but I never came to the bottom of that community. And so I thought to myself: where in the world would you be most expected to meet more furries? Isn’t that Black Rock City by any chance?
7. Training Powerful One-on-ones.
I was born and raised on the same block as two iconic Polish hip-hop squads, Paktofonika and Kaliber 44. That’s why I’m used to playing with words. Naturally, want to impress other kids on the block?
Throw a juicy punchline in their face. That was the spirit of my childhood.
Funny enough, now that I have landed in San Francisco thirty years later, it seems that words have even more power than ever before. Your speed of building personal impact in the city is a combination of two things: powerful public speeches and powerful one-on-ones.
So, every time you meet a new person, you have to give them your undivided attention for a few minutes. And you need to create enough value to make a lasting impression.
There are various ways to create value, and sharing resources and information is not always the most effective approach. You basically need to read the room. If you deal with someone junior or new in the city, it’s better to offer guidance or drop some useful contacts.
But if that person is more senior and experienced than you, giving unsolicited advice might sound arrogant or patronizing.
In that case, it is much better to just amuse them. Of course, or ask them a few absurd questions. That puts them a little off guard and helps ensure they have a good (or at least, interesting) time.
How Did Living in the Netherlands Shape My Communication?
All these years spent in the Netherlands have greatly helped me with communication as well. Polish people mostly convey emotions through facial expressions and the timbre of their voice.
The Dutch, by contrast, often speak in a more monotonous tone and keep neutral facial expressions. Instead, they rely on the intensity and focus of their gaze. These are simply different channels of communication.
After 14 years in the Netherlands, I think I have gained some command of that “foreign language” in non-verbal communication. Now, whatever I cannot hear, I can see, and whatever I cannot see, I can hear. Besides, this greatly helps me in reading the intentions of the people I talk to.
#connectingthedots
So, my resolution for this edition of the festival was to do as many one-on-ones as physically possible and hone the skill of getting to know someone really quickly.
8. Looking Under Every Stone.
All the aisles in the Playa have a joint length of 60-70 kilometers (or, ~40 miles). Assuming that I’d make the distance twice, that gives up to 140 kilometers of marching in the sand.
About 25 kilometers (or 15 miles) per day. But I was determined to look everywhere.
This is where, again, all these years spent in the Netherlands paid off. In the Netherlands, long-distance marches are almost a national sport. My own city, Nijmegen, is home to the most famous public march in the world, known as 4daagse.
Four days, 50 kilometers (or, 30 miles) per day, walked by a crowd of 50,000 people every time — I made the full distance in 2014. I also made it twice at Dodentocht in Belgium: 100 kilometers (or, 60 miles) at one go.
I did it all with no prep. Now, a little stroll through the desert felt just right.
You might be wondering—what do long-distance marches in the Netherlands or Belgium have to do with walking through the Nevada desert? Surprisingly, quite a lot. These marches usually take place in July or August, when temperatures range between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius (90 to 100 Fahernheit).
Despite being in Central Europe, the heat feels strikingly similar to the Playa. After so many marches, I felt well-prepared for Burning Man’s conditions.
It’s fascinating how experiences from one part of the world can translate to another. You realize that certain isomorphisms exist—parallels across space and time—that allow lessons from one domain to carry over into another. For me, enduring the summer heat during long marches in the Netherlands translated remarkably well into handling the Playa.
#connectingthedots
9. No More Losing People!
I also made a resolution not to lose any people this time. In 2022, it so often happened to me to encounter an interesting person in the desert, write down their contact information on paper.
Then I’d lose it stupidly on the way home. Or, even worse, to have nothing at hand to even save that contact information in the first place.
So, this time I produced myself stickers with my face and contact information on them, so that I have a supply at hand at all times. Primitive solution, I know. But better this than nothing!
10.* The Ultimate Search.
This is the funny one. I’ve recently watched the body horror “Together” (2025). The movie is about the feeling of being so close to someone that you merge into a single entity—two pieces eventually forming one body.
On screen, reaching that final form of wholeness feels wonderful. Sometimes I feel the same way: complete just as I am, not as part of something else, but whole and perfectly happy already.
And yet… as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. I’m now testing the hypothesis that somewhere out there, there is someone mentally similar to me, just with a different chromosome.
And tis thought occurred to me: perhaps this is the moment to perform the ultimate search for a soulmate. Why not at the Playa?
Over the past few years, I feel like I’ve been sabotaging myself. I may or may not fully understand it yet, but I know that dopamine doesn’t come from the reward itself—it comes from anticipating it.
According to landmark peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, dopamine neurons fire primarily in response to the prediction of a reward rather than the reward itself, a mechanism now known as the reward-prediction-error signal. I think I’ve been “friendzoning” people too quickly, simply because I enjoy the process of wandering the world and occasionally looking around for a soulmate. I enjoy it so much that I never gave any real person a proper chance.
Why Am I Still Writing About This, Years Later?
I’ve been writing this text for years, and it’s only recently that I feel it has matured and kind of represents my personal standards. To my knowledge, every person who reads this text reacts positively to it and starts working on their own standards. Perhaps, this is the most benevolent thing I have ever written.
I’m still curious. And I feel that expressing that curiosity at the Playa is probably the best opportunity I could have—it’s the one place where I can expect the most interesting outcomes. So this time around, I’ll let curiosity win.
So, What Happened at Burning Man 2025?
As a lone traveller, I always have a ton of luck on the way. A TON.
This luck has already started before I took off fpr the festival. Charl, a friend of mine who also attended Burnng Man three years ago, advised me to buy a cheap tent, an inflatable mattress, and a sleeping bag from Decathlon, with the purpose of using it just for this trip alone and donating or leaving all of it on the way back.
It was a great piece of advice, as the whole set cost me less than 100 Euro and was portable. Meanwhile, I wrapped it with a rope and wore it as a handbag in my hand luggage.
I also took a few essentials such as a torch, headlight, sunglasses, and sunscreen. As a consequence, I was able to fly into the US and take care of myself at the festival with hand luggage only.
To ask your next question: yes, I know that one of the 10 principles of Burning Man is self-reliance. I knew right away that I might miss a few essentials during my trip. But I also knew that (1) the Playa is abundant In anything you could ever wish, (2) you can never prepare for every possible fuckup (in 2022, Nicole and me had a ton of equipment and things were breaking anyway).
So, I just forgave myself in advance.
The Journey to Black Rock City
I was flying out of my favorite airport in the world, Schiphol in Amsterdam. That’s when the check-in officer did something incredible to help me reach my destination. My route was Amsterdam → San Francisco → Reno, the closest airport to the Playa.
The problem was that I didn’t have a seat number for the San Francisco–Reno leg of the trip. In the U.S., you often don’t get an assigned seat in advance—you simply have to show up early at the gate to secure a seat for yourself.
The officer had no idea what Burning Man was, or that 70,000 people would be trying to get to Reno on the very same day. Consequently, without a guaranteed seat, I risked missing the flight—and possibly half, if not the entire festival.
So, I spent ten minutes giving him an impromptu motivational speech about Burning Man: what it is, what it means to me, and why it was essential for me to secure that seat. Somehow, I managed to get him genuinely excited about the whole concept.
He pulled some behind-the-scenes strings in the system and managed to book me a seat from Amsterdam all the way to Reno. It was something he technically shouldn’t have been able to do.
Thanks to his effort (and my little pitch), I made it all the way from Schiphol to Reno exactly as planned.
Landing in Reno and the Final Stretch
I landed at Reno Airport on Saturday, August 23rd, late in the evening. I had to stay overnight to catch a morning bus to Black Rock City. In other words, in the end, I decided not to head out on Sunday.
I was still exhausted from the party I’d hosted at my place in the Netherlands on Friday, followed by a long, bumpy journey. By the time I arrived in Reno, I was completely drained.
So, I chose to rest and booked a nearby Airbnb. Luckily, I found an entire house within walking distance of the airport for just $60 a night. It felt like a gift—and exactly what I needed to get one solid night of sleep before heading to the Playa.
So I booked an Airbnb, dropped off my luggage, and took myself on a Sunday session of “masturdating” at the nearby Black Bear Diner in Reno. I had a great meal, enjoyed some local beers, and then strolled around to explore the city a little more. Reno truly lives up to its nickname—the biggest little city in the world—with its small-town vibe, and I loved it.
When I returned, I realized just how lucky I’d been. I just dodged a bullet.
While I was dining in comfort, a massive thunderstorm—the worst in 15 years—swept through the Playa, destroying tents and camps, and coming dangerously close to being deadly. Missing it felt like yet another reminder of the strange, protective luck I often seem to have when traveling solo
Why Is Burning Man So Popular Right Now?
This also made me reflect on why Burning Man is so popular—especially among the affluent circles of Silicon Valley. Namely, it offers just the right level of uncertainty.
Every year is different. The weather is unpredictable, and unexpected situations can arise, like the sandstorm at the onset of this year’s event
In those moments, memories are created on the fly: stories you’ll tell your children one day, or videos you’ll share on Instagram. And yet, your life is never truly at risk.
It may feel like it, but with so many people around, medical professionals on-site, and a culture of mutual support, the danger is controlled. You step into a “danger zone,” but one where things can go wrong only to an extent you can realistically handle.
Says me, sipping beer at Reno.
Meanwhile at the Playa:
Arrival Day: Buses, Food, and Getting In
On Monday morning, after a good night’s sleep, I walked back to Reno Airport, where the Burner Express was departing for Black Rock City. And here’s what you need to know.
First, the reality is different from what you read online. Officially, they say you can’t board the bus without a pre-purchased ticket, and that no tickets are sold during the festival. In practice, however, you can buy a ticket right before boarding—that’s exactly what I did.
Second, there are two types of Burner Express buses. One goes straight to the Playa. The other makes a one-hour stop at a local shopping mall, where you can stock up on supplies.
I chose the slightly more expensive version with the stop—and it was a lifesaver, since I had no food with me. As a result, of course, the Playa provides, and Burners are famously generous. But I still wanted the comfort of having my own breakfast every morning.
So I kept it simple. I bought foods that didn’t need refrigeration and settled on one daily ritual. Organic tortillas filled with cheddar cheese and dipped in peanut butter.
Strange as it sounds, it was the perfect breakfast — nutritious and high in protein and energy. It was also stable enough to last the entire week. Aside from that, I picked up a few extra snacks and drinks, which I later regretted—they weren’t necessary at all.
If I go this route again, I’ll stick to just those three components. They were more than enough to fuel my mornings and let me fully enjoy the Playa without overthinking supplies.
Setting Up Camp
I arrived Monday afternoon, made my tent in five minutes. I made sure that every other tent around my tent is bigger than mine and can shield me from the wind.
I quickly made friends with the strangers camping around me, thanks to stroopwafels—the famous Dutch sweets that never fail as an icebreaker anywhere in the world. And of course, they worked just as well in Black Rock City.
So if you’re wondering whether you can make friends while camping in the comfort zone, the answer is yes. That said, just bring some sweets, add a big smile, and you’ll have friends in five minutes, tops.
And so I was free to explore the Playa. I went to one party on the outs (K — the outmost external alley). It was called off because of the rain, so I just came back and went to sleep.
By this occasion, I learned this lesson: just don’t go to any party in the outs because it is a long distance to make. And in case the party suddenly gets called off, it’s a wasted time as nothing happens next door.
The Route.
The Playa spans across eight “hours,” with each hour forming a wide avenue, and it’s also intersected by longitudinal streets from A to K, which are much narrower. I noticed soon enough that th camps camping on the outs (I, J, K streets) don’t do much so I can focus on streets from Esplanade to H inclusive.
I made myself a plan for exploring it all. Since the avenues are so broad—almost like highways—I had to cross each of them twice: once walking along the right side, and another time along the left.
By contrast, the streets from Esplanade to H were narrow enough that I only needed to walk each one once. I could observe both sides at the same time. That’s why I ended up walking the Esp-H streets only once each, but the avenues from 2nd to 10th twice each.
I knew that Saturday is the day of the burn and Sunday I’ll be packing, so I have roughly four days to explore: Tuesday to Friday.
How I Structured My Days: Marching and Dancing
I also decided to spend my days on marching, and my evenings on dancing.
I will stay loyal to me, myself, and I. If someone is boring, needy, or annoying, I simply keep moving. Nevertheless, some people—especially around Hoverlandia—found me arrogant for that reason.
But the truth is, I just wasn’t interested in conversations that didn’t lead anywhere inspiring. So I ended them quickly and moved on. As expected, that kind of attitude tends to draw a lot of attention.
Furthermore, I decided NOT to take a bike to Playa this time around. Bikes are the default means of communication to most people a biking goes just faster than walking. BUT bikes keep on breaking.
Plus, when you bike, you don’t talk. I decided to optimize my BM2025 experience for human interaction, so I took a resolution to walk everywhere. And, to do what I‘m best at, namely drink and chat with people.
This approach had a lot of pros as there was yet another bar at every corner, and bar tenders are usually talkative, well informed, and well connected. In such high temperatures, I evaporate and metabolize beer faster than I drink it, so I could make infinite number of stops on the way.
Plus, leaving stickers at the counters — Americans is such a sticker nation and yet, no one thinks of producing themselves their personal stickers!
One of the first things encountered on the way on Tuesday: The Orgy Dome was destroyed during the thunderstorm. This is exactly what makes me laugh real hard — the thought that the crowd must be in panic mode right now.
Or rather, I shall say: schoolboys (pol. gimbaza) are in panic mode; adults have other camps to enjoy.
What Did I Wear? The Rabbit Costume
I had to come up with an idea for the Burning Man costume, and I figured the easiest choice was to go as a rabbit. In particular, all I needed were a pair of rabbit ears, which I managed to get—even without a camp. But there were two obstacles.
Not only did I have to dodge my friends, who were everywhere at the festival. I also had to avoid “rabbit control”—a group of people who hunt down rabbits at the event. No one could tell me exactly what happens if you get caught, but I knew it had to be something terrible.
So I embraced it: I became the rabbit. And for the rest of the festival, that’s exactly who I was.
To add to the level of cringe, the underwear I was wearing—straight from Victoria’s Secret—was actually bought with a voucher. My own master’s students had given it to me just a month earlier.
Their not-so-subtle message was that I was a bit of a no-life and should do something fun for myself. Sure guys, there we go.
When people see a bunny in an underwear, they’re like: “What’s up ‘lil bunny? Wanna have a drink?” What they don’t know about the bunny is that, it’s not only highly carnivorous, but also a tough drinker.
I actually have genetics for that; I’m 84% Eastern European, 8% Balkan, 7% Irish, and 1% Inuit — to put it briefly, a drunkard. It’s damn hard to pacify that bunny using drinks…
which is always fun for me to watch. I’m the last one standing every time.
The Burn.
The Burn feels a little different every year—and that’s part of its beauty. This time, I went with my neighbors from Hoverlandia, so it became more of a group excursion with casual friends. By contrast, we came really close to the statue; I could feel the heat on my face.
But unlike in some years, this time the Burn didn’t feel like a spiritual experience. It felt more like an art performance—something to watch and admire, like an exhibition or a show on stage.
I had no burning questions on my mind, no inner struggles. I was simply there, sitting on a piece of fabric in my bathing suit, relaxed and unbothered, just watching the spectacle unfold. And it struck me later: happy people rarely have much to say about happiness.
They don’t analyze it, they don’t write treatises on it—they just are. Since they don’t struggle for it, they don’t have profound insights to share.
Controversial theory here: happy people are dumb by design. It’s misery that makes you think and analyze your situation — not happiness. And on that very moment, while watching the burn AD 2025, I was thoughtless and dumb.
I was praying on the void. I was happy.
That was exactly how I felt in that moment: empty-headed in the best possible way. No deep thoughts, no revelations—just pure presence.
I even took a selfie to capture it, and when I looked at it later, untouched and unfiltered, I genuinely saw it: I looked happy. I don’t fully know what happened to my brain back there in India, but my mind clearly shifted to another frequency, I mean it.
You’ve Already Won This Game
And that’s when I told myself: you’ve already won this game. You’re here, you’re whole, you’re happy—there’s nothing else to worry about.
I looked around and noticed that some people who had come alone seemed to be searching for someone to talk to. I saw an American man and a Russian woman right next to me — both of them looking like classic influencers — strike up a conversation.
They were genuinely sharing how they felt in the moment. For instance, it even seemed like it could be the seed of a future relationship.
I was glad to witness it, but I felt no jealousy, no urge to compare myself. Just observing, detached yet at peace. I even thought to myself: maybe one day kids will come out of this, maybe not—either way, bless them.
But I had no reflections about myself in that scene. Honestly, I couldn’t have been in a better place than I already was.
People often condition their happiness: I’ll be happy once I graduate. Once I find a partner. Once I buy a house, a car, this or that.
But that moment of completeness never truly arrives. I promised to myself I wouldn’t be like that.
The Burn itself had a distinctly cyberpunk feel this year. Its statue glowed in shades of pink and violet, and the burn itself was almost barbaric in its intensity.
The main show felt abrupt and explosive—the Man collapsed in flames with real force. For example, it was raw, powerful, dynamic, and a little violent—an undeniably spectacular performance.
Is the Burn a Sacred Ritual?
For many people there, the Burn is like attending a sacred ritual—almost like a yearly mass, except celebrated through fire instead of prayer. In a way, it felt like stepping into a temple of constructive destruction.
And in its own wild way, it was truly inspiring. And it satisfied my blood thirst for the time being.
By the way, a fun fact I learned from my friend Louis Roehrs: San Francisco Airport (SFO) is actually shaped like the Burning Man figure—with its arms down.
After the Burn, I took a long walk through the Deep Playa—like diving into a vast ocean, full of beautiful fish and other hidden wonders of the deep.
The truth is: Burning Man is the world’s largest festival of human creativity. It’s incredible to see what people can create when they’re not being paid and not being told what to do. Instead, they’re simply encouraged by a framework of rules that makes them feel both supported and free to express themselves.
And yes, you can see lots of beef on the media. “Rich people dressed as poor people” — so they say.
“Drug-fueled rave.” — so they say. “Nudity and hedonism” — so they say.
But they haven’t seen couples in 30+ year-old marriages. Nor have they seen dads teaming up with their sons to build art cars in ther garages all year long. These are people who then go out into the world once a year and are proud of their beautiful creations.
It’s just beautiful. The top of the top of the American culture. In fact, his festival could have never come to life in any other country in the world.
The Temple.
This year, the Temple looked more like a space dragon’s egg than anything else. At first, I could hardly believe it was the Temple at all—which is why I had trouble finding it in the night.
It didn’t resemble a conventional temple with a roof and familiar architecture. But eventually, I arrived, took a seat on a bench, and shared a quiet moment of sadness with everyone else gathered there.
Unlike my previous visit, I didn’t have anything of my own to burn. Back then, I released some wishes, fears, and problems into the fire. This time, I couldn’t think of anything I truly wished for that I couldn’t achieve on my own.
So instead, I symbolically cast away a few fears, problems, and sins I felt still lingered in my friends’ lives—and I burned them at Hoverlandia’s sands.
Skipped the temple burn this time around (mostly because I felt exhausted and I overslept). The temple burn was majestic though:
The Unicorn.
On my last day at the Playa, I was caught sleeping on a couch with a unicorn. Which probably means that my political career is over before it even started.
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Och by the way, this was love at first sight. I was gifted this unicorn afterwards, and I took it as hand luggage all the way back to Poland. Indeed, here on the photo: us at SFO airport — in the land of unicorns.
In total, we went all the way to Poland through 8 locations. The route: Black Rock City —> by bus —> Reno —> by plane —> San Francisco —> by plane —> Amsterdam —> by train —> Eindhoven —> by plane —> Kraków-Balice —> by train —> Kraków Główny —> by bus —> Bielsko-Biała.
I was meetting with the same reaction every time: “What is this??” And every tme, I was peacefully responding: “Just a unicorn.” And, it was a pass. Every. Single.
Time. You see, unicorns don’t bother anyone. There are even cities where they are welcome.
This is the view of my room at my parents’ place right now — I live at the end of the rainbow where unicorns reside.
Conclusions.
Now, onto my favorite part: the conclusions. Did Burning Man bring any real insights or meaningful encounters?
Was my intuition right—did I make the right choice to travel all the way from the Netherlands to Burning Man and back? In short: was it worth it?
0. Is Burning Man a Simulation of the Post-Labor World?
First of all, since 2022, both my personal mission and that of my company have evolved. With GPT and AI’s rapid advances, it’s become clear we may be witnessing a profound transition in the job market.
Within the next 20 years, that could lead to some form of universal basic income and a post-labor society. According to Forbes, forecasts that AI could displace tens of millions of jobs by the end of the decade are making the idea of a guaranteed income increasingly mainstream rather than radical.
Which mean that in the not-so-distant future, the economy might resemble something far closer to Burning Man than to the structures we know today. Burning Man is no longer just a utopia—it might actually serve as a powerful simulation of a post-labor economy.
In this setting, staying relevant means finding a role for yourself and contributing by gifting others whatever you can offer as valuable. Yet, survival doesn’t depend on being useful to others; rather, it comes from being useful to yourself—nurturing your own sense of satisfaction and belonging.
1. Burning Man Will Break Your Heart no Matter What.
As I mentioned before, Burning Man is a place where you must be extremely selective—you will never be able to see everything or meet everyone worthy of your attention.
There is always twenty times more to experience than you can possibly attend, and far more fascinating people to encounter than you’ll ever have the time for. Choosing to consciously let go of opportunities makes the pain of missing out a little easier, but it never disappears. Still, even with careful planning and self-organization, you inevitably skip far more than you actually experience.
That said, I feel I saw and achieved more this time than during my first visit, making more valuable connections along the way. Still, looking back, I can see mistakes I made and ways I could optimize further in the future, as I definitely spent some time unproductively.
I was on the Playa for roughly six and a half days out of nine. If I had arrived earlier, I could have maximized the experience—though that would also have meant facing the thunderstorm. So, there’s still a learning curve for me, and plenty of room to improve next time.
Now, on my second time at Burning Man, my five to ten favorite go-to camps are slowly revealing themselves. I won’t name them here for privacy—just as in future editions, my plan is to keep a bit of mystery and not let people find me too easily.
But still lots to learn and discover.
How Long Does It Take to Really Know Burning Man?
Experienced Burners with over twenty years under their belt often say that your knowledge of the festival plateaus around your fifth or sixth visit. Until then, you’re still learning and finding ways to optimize your experience.
After that point, you already know the essentials, and the rest depends on unpredictable factors: the weather, the people who come, and the unique energy of each year. Which means I still have a few years to go before I even reach that plateau.
Also, visiting directly from San Francisco would effectively save me three to four days of travel. After all, the journey from the Netherlands to the desert and back took more than a full day each way. Hopefully, next time I’ll already be living in Silicon Valley and can experience Burning Man without the long haul.
2. Never Will I ever Attend Burning Man on My Fertile Days Again.
Never ever. Cause it’s when literally everyone seems good looking to me. What can I say here… This was pain.
3. Why Do I Love America?
It is hands down the most bold and creative nation ever born. After all, I don’t believe this festival could have been created anywhere else in the world—certainly not in Europe.
I doubt any other nation would have had the courage to pull off something of this scale and spirit. And once again, that reinforces my feeling that this is where I belong, and this is the community I should immerse myself in as often as possible.
I not only felt inspired but also wanted, appreciated, helped, cared for, heard, included, astonished, motivated — you name it. And no, it’s not just the festival atmosphere; it’s ths particular hivemind of people.
4. Functional Programming.
Burning Man is based on principled not goals, and that’s exactly why it works. Just look at El Pulpo Magnifico, one art car I’m obsessed with:
El Pulpo seems to have it in for me—it never fires up when I try to capture it on video. I’ve tried countless times, and every time it just stays silent, as if mocking me with a middle finger.
Still, I can’t help but be mesmerized by it. Whenever I see it, I find myself staring like a little kid, completely hypnotized.
It would have never existed if not for the fact that no one ordered or expected it. The creators of Burning Man have never asked anyone to build a cross between a giant octopus and a Hindu god out of second-hand frying pans (!). Notably, they didn’t even ask for an art car in the first place.
Instead, they defined what’s known today as “10 Principles of Burning Man” (Harvey, 2004). These ten rules exploit the topic of “what to do and how to behave” at the festival. All the wonders of the Playa are just a natural consequence of this decalog, as the rules unlocked unlimited creativity in a (relatively) safe space.
Perhaps we can learn something from the story too. Most people have very well-defined goals, but poorly defined decision-making processes. But how can you reach your dream life — the house, the job, the family — if you struggle with the simplest decisions?
Decisions like which meal to order in a restaurant, or which book to read? Perhaps it’s better to develop blurry goals and a sharp decision-making process instead.
Why Are We Trained to Collect Things?
We are trained since childhood to think and act in the world of objects. Collect things. First, collect good grades. Then, collect professional certificates. Collect jobs. Collect projects. Money too. Collect awards & accolades. Instead of collecting items (like points in your CV), start learning how to make decisions.
Your life is a compound effect of all the decisions you have ever made after all. Choosing between two foods? Choose one that is less processed.
Or, has more fiber. At the same time, choosing between two roads to commute? Choose the one you didn’t try before.
Choosing between two social activities? Choose the one that gives a higher chance of serendipity. Choosing between two new skills?
Choose the one that makes perfect sense giving another skill you already have, so that 1 + 1 > 2. And so on, and so forth.
Having said that, I am happy to say that creatvty in times of GPT is just fine! Heading to Burning Man in 2025, I carried some concerns about the rise of AI in the arts since 2022—how it often encourages a kind of cognitive laziness.
But at the festival, I saw none of that. The creativity was as vibrant as three years ago, perhaps even stronger, and it reassured me that human-made art is thriving.
5. My Personal Boundaries Have Changed Since 2022.
I’ve also noticed that my personal boundaries have shifted since 2022. Likewise, no longer do I allow others to touch me for arbitrary reasons. I remember one camp offering coffee in exchange for being spanked with a paddle.
The spank was meant to be light, delivered by a girl who even promised to go easy on me—and yes, she was cute. Still, I wasn’t okay with the idea of conditioning coffee on someone touching me. It just didn’t sit right with me.
But observing myself further, I’ve noticed the opposite dynamic as well. I’ve become more territorial and more likely to step into other people’s space, as if that space belonged to me in the first place. Funny enough, no one seems to have a problem with that.
And so I’m more outgoing, quicker to offer hugs, and faster to greet people with a smile; I can’t fully explain why. It’s an interesting realization. There’s no good reason to invade other people’s space so quickly—except, perhaps, that I catch my dose of oxytocin before anyone has a chance to object.
6. The Tiles.
As mentoned in my essay on the Indian trip, for a long time I had too many elements to my life that were not fitting properly. Overall, it felt like figures blocking each other on the chess boarrd. But after coming back from India, all the blocks finally started falling into the right places in my head.
Recently, I started putting order to my life. I sent a transport of all my personal belongings from the Netherlands back to Poland. That way, my house in the Netherlands officially becomes my summer house once for all time.
My personal items are no longer scattered all around the world which gives m som sense of internal peace. But that’s obviously just a start of putting order to things.
Also, an idea for how to further arrange my life to max out on the experience, both personally and professionally, has loomed in my head.
A. Homebase: San Francisco. In short, ths is not even a question anymore.
Fun fact: when I was 14, I was really sad about moving to a new city and leaving all my friends behind. I was depressed, barely eating, and spending most of my time buried in books—I was a total bookworm. To cheer me up, my dad brought me a 1,000-piece puzzle, something to keep me occupied during the vacation.
At first, I was annoyed—it was an image of a city I had no connection to and had never even visited. I didn’t care for it at all. But out of sheer boredom, I started putting the puzzle together.
In the end, we framed it behind glass and hung it on the wall in my room back in my hometown, where it stayed for the next 25 years. And this—this is that very puzzle.
Planning My Breaks Around the Calendar
Yes, when God tries to tell you something, just give him a chance.
B. Spring break (3-4 weeks around March/April): a spiritual journey to Asia: India, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia… (possibly, with an Easter stop in Poland on the way).
My trip to India was amazing but there are more ways of life to explore. For instance, on the plane back from Reno, I met an incredible woman named Marcia from Shanghai, a Taoist. She attends a few spiritual excursions a year, visiting her Taoist master somewhere in the mountains of China.
I like to believe that Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, was the wisest human ever born. No offense to the Dalai Lama, Elon Musk, or anyone else—but that’s truly what I think. Just look at his words: they were written nearly 5,000 years ago, yet they feel more relevant today than ever.
Every one of his sayings strikes with timeless precision. My mindset has plenty to do with the path of the Tao and yet, I have never had the chance to explore that culture for real. Now I feel that I do.
Mapping Out My Seasonal Breaks
C. Summer break (3-4 weeks around late August/early September): Burning Man + visit at my house in the Netherlands (possibly, a short visit to my parents in Poland).
Living in San Francisco would make it much easier to organize a trip to Burning Man. The festival always ends on the first weekend of September, which happens to be an ideal time for me to return to the Netherlands.
There, I take care of some maintenance around my house, reconnect with Dutch friends, and perhaps even host an end-of-summer garden party. My house is right next to the university where I once studied, making it the perfect spot to bring people together.
This year, I did organize a party, but it took place on the last weekend of August, right before Burning Man. That turned out to be less than ideal, since many families in the Netherlands are still on vacation then, and a number of people couldn’t attend.
By contrast, the first or second weekend of September would be perfect, as most people are back once school starts. For me, simply walking around the house, handling small maintenance tasks, preparing a to-do list for the construction crew, and hosting a gathering would be the perfect way to decompress after Burning Man.
Planning the Rest of the Year: Fall and Winter
D. Winter break (3-4 weeks around Christmas): stay with my parents and friends at Poland + catching up with my friends in Warsaw.
Nothing truly compares to Christmas in Poland—whether it’s a white Christmas or a green one. For me, this is the time to be with my parents and family at the end of the year.
I also still have many friends and contacts in Warsaw, some of whom I’ve known for over twenty years. So I make a point of reconnecting with them at least once a year.
The holiday season, stretching from Christmas through New Year’s, is the perfect moment to catch up, reflect on everything that’s happened over the past year. It’s also the moment to share resolutions for the one ahead.
This rhythm might allow me to strike the perfect balance between managing my assets and pursuing personal development. It also lets me stay in San Francisco during peak season — January-February, June, and October — for the most seminal startup events.
7. New Project of a Sticker.
The idea of creating stickers for the festival was good in principle. However, after just one day on the Playa, I realized how much room there was for improvement—the sticker project turned out to be far from optimal. If I were to do it again, I would make several major changes, which I’ve summarized in the picture below.
Having said that, now, two weeks after returning from the Playa. I’ve realized that leaving a sticker with someone—and essentially giving away the responsibility of contacting me—is not always the best approach. Stickers can get damaged or scratched, making the QR code unusable.
Beyond that, many people hold the mindset that what happens at Burning Man stays at Burning Man. Naturally, others are simply passive, not taking initiative to build a network beyond chance encounters.
Even Americans, who are probably among the most proactive people in the world, often don’t maintain connections afterward. So, relying on someone to reach out using a sticker turns out to have a very low success rate.
On the other hand, collecting contacts the old-fashioned way—on a scrap of paper—wasn’t much better. People often wrote down information incorrectly, with typos or illegible handwriting, which made it unreliable.
Looking ahead, I think the best solution is to have people enter their details directly into my phone, ensuring that the information is accurate and complete. Ideally, I’ll collect at least two channels of communication (a phone number and an email), along with their camp name and perhaps another point of reference.
That way, I’ll have reliable contact information to follow up with once the festival is over. And the best way to avoid errors is simple: let people type it in themselves on a proper keyboard.
8. Consume For a Change.
I spend the whole year building projects. So this time I decided to simply be a consumer for one week—a role that many people at Burning Man also cherish, as it gives them a chance to feel needed. I chose to gracefully accept whatever was offered, and I have to say, there was an oversupply of everything.
In fact, it often felt like fine dining. My routine was modest. A high-protein breakfast in the tent, then running on drinks throughout the day, sipping cold beer at every bar, and finally dining with whoever extended an invitation in the evening.
I had so many wonderful meals—an elegant dinner with fine wines at Sharkey’s Bar and Lounge, courtesy of King George; Sichuan chicken and shrimp at China Village; and my friend Ali Fox’s birthday party at the Magic Lantern Society, complete with cheeses, wines, salmon, and other specialties.
At the same time, I still delivered in the way I know best: through conversations that create value, especially around burnout and career change. But I also embraced the role of a consumer for once—and I don’t believe there’s any shame in that. Accepting what others offer fulfills their need to give, to feel important, and to serve.
Many people wait the whole year for that feeling. So as much as you’re expected to contribute to the Playa, you must also allow others to contribute to you.
9. Speak Your Truth.
Many people experience something transcendental on the Playa—and not without reason. Life there feels as if it accelerates a hundredfold, simply because people allow themselves to speak their truth.
Sometimes I wonder: wouldn’t life everywhere be easier if we could all just say what we really think, without fearing the facepalm? Not only in the Nevada desert, but back in the city, too.
American culture often discourages such openness. Still, the moment you dare to be honest, life seems to speed up instantly.
10. The Cause and the Effect.
I came to Burning Man on a whim, and many people called me brave for doing so. But I’ve always wondered why.
To me, what’s truly brave is sitting still, waiting for life to change on its own, hoping the world will bend to your will without you ever taking action. Cause and effect doesn’t work that way—the effect always follows the cause, though you can never predict how long it will take for results to appear.
Every single person I met in the desert could change my life. I just don’t know when. Of course, it could be tomorrow, a year from now, or even ten years down the line.
Time will tell. My intuition says I played the game well—better than last time, though still with room for improvement.
I feel I pulled enough strings and sparked enough meaningful conversations to see their impact eventually. I don’t yet know how it will materialize, but as I decompress from the festival, I can honestly say I did a solid job this time around.
And no, my DeLorean did not manifest just yet, but that again can happen in a moment.
11. When the Crowd Turns Right, Turn Left.
(or vice versa)
Now, three years later, I can also see some mid-term shifts in society. One striking difference is the growing number of people with unrecognizable, ‘Instagram faces’ shaped by fillers and plastic surgery.
There’s a camp at Burning Man called Bubbles and Bass. They host excellent New York DJs, are impeccably organized, and serve champagne and bubbles every morning.
It’s the perfect spot if you’ve slept through the night parties and still want to dance in the sunshine. I often go there—but what shocks me is how much of the crowd looks like an Instagram feed brought to life.
When I see all those distorted faces and bodies, I know one thing for sure: I will never do that to myself. And if any man ever expects it from me, he’ll be the one replaced—not my face.
To be brutally honest, I don’t even mind that so many people look increasingly alike—it works to my advantage. The more plastic faces there are, the more distinct and memorable I remain.
12. I don’t Want to Listen to “BUT.”
Do you live in Poland or the Netherlands, or anywhere else for that matter, and want to change your life? Don’t tell me “it is too expensive to go to Burning Man.” It’s a common stereotype so let’s break down the costs:
- $1,000 — return flight Amsterdam-Reno (booked in the peak season in the summer, just 3 weeks beforehand).
- $650 — the festival ticket (actually, now I know I could get it for free if only I spent more time online and just kindly asked).
- $400 — return ticket for Burner Express, Reno — Black Rock City — Reno.
- $100 — a set of a tent, inflatable mattress, and sleeping bag from Decathlon.
- $50 — organic tortillas, sharp cheddar cheese, peanut butter, and a supply of 5 gallons of water from Burner Express service.
Total: $2,200 (~€2,000 or ~PLN8,000)
(of course, plus sunburns, scratches, and other minor injuries)
Let’a be real: any cheapest week-long vacation would cost you at least half that amount, provided you fly in to your vacation destination. Besides, don’t you think that’s a fair trade—to change your life for this price? Or maybe the truth is, you simply don’t like your life at all.
I’d even say more here. The Burning Man crowd is well-filtered, in-person contacts matter more than ever, and the added cost is minimal. So can you really afford NOT to go to Burning Man?
13. The World Is Truly Small.
I tried to keep a low profile and make myself hard to find, yet I still bumped into a few friends on the Playa. It made me realize that I’m not truly anonymous anywhere anymore.
In fact, about half the people there come straight from San Francisco and the Bay Area. That means your personal and professional lives blend tightly together—you’re no longer completely free to do whatever you want, however you want.
One moment drove this home for me. I had just come back from a sauna on the Playa, still in my bathing suit, when I ran into someone who recognized me from a lecture I’d given two years earlier in San Francisco. Meanwhile, he knew my name, followed me on social media, and recognized me instantly.
The thought struck me—if we had met just five minutes earlier, I would have been completely naked.
That was a red flag, a clear reminder that at any moment, I might run into someone who knows me.
It’s no longer a carefree, anonymous space where you can go anywhere and do anything without a second thought. It also gave me that eerie feeling. Whenever someone stares at me, it might be for a hundred reasons—for instance, because they recognize me, even if I don’t recognize them.
Things have definitely changed since 2022, when I made my first trip to Silicon Valley. The times of YOLO and “happy go lucky” are over; keeping the proper demeanor is essential now.
14. The Way Knows the Way.
Sometimes it’s best to simply trust your intuition and follow wherever it leads. Don’t ask ‘why’—just do it.
As my new friend, Marcia, said: you don’t need to know the way. The way knows the way.
* * *
Lastly, let me share a few photos from the Playa that I randomly took this year. I’m not big on photography; I just want to show you the festival through my own lens (including lots of photos from my nearest surroundings at Hoverlandia):
About This Article
Please cite as:
Bielczyk, N. (2025, September 15th). Burning Man: The Serendipity Machine. The Path to the Woods Goes through the Desert. Retrieved from: https://nataliabielczyk.com/burning-man-2025/
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