Are you there God? It’s me Avalo.

I just wanted to write to thank you for saving my burn in 2004. Actually, you saved my girlfriend’s burn, and the goodness rippled out in all directions. I downloaded your podcast and heard angels in the heavenly firmament talking about their experience meeting her. I’m so glad that the gift of divine connection echoes in the aether to this day. I witnessed the divine encounter from a temporal displacement.

How it happened was thusly: It was a dark and dusty night when we arrived on a desolate patch of alkali desert. I did my best to create order with tools at my disposal. All was in vain. Disorder crept in despite my best efforts to keep it at bay. My girlfriend was a great enthusiast of things that are orderly. She was totally distraught that I was unable to tame the winds or prevent playa dust from accumulating everywhere, sullying everything. We survived the night with the winds of change shaking the nylon tent hither and thither.

In the morning, the winds had stilled and brilliant colors, art and festivity blossomed all around us, I smiled, refreshed. She however was dour and had little to say. She exclaimed in Japanese, “How could you bring a beauty-loving person like me to an ugly place like this?” I was somewhat astounded. Everything was beautiful in my eyes. But then I realized I wasn’t seeing that from her perspective, all she saw was the playa dust. I was seeing the people, the art and the joy of the others around me. I contemplated my sin and asked for forgiveness. I learned from this that nobody should every be brought to the playa. Everyone must find their own way, only if the desert calls to them. I offered to pack up to leave. She said no. She was just going to go for a walk.

The rest I heard in retrospect when she was singing your glorious praises. She’d no sooner started walking across the playa when she came to a phone booth labeled “Talk to God.” She went in and started talking about her sense of upset and was amazed to hear Japanese through the receiver! She felt very relieved that she could complain and rant in her mother tongue and be so well heard. God told her to go hang out at a camp where there were lots of Japanese burners, advice she promptly followed.

When she came back to our tent a couple of hours later, she was very happy. She’d decided that she really loved Burning Man and that she was excited to stay for the rest of the week. She decided that her gift to the playa was to write with her elegant calligraphy on the temple and all other wooden structures that were scheduled to burn that week.

The next year she insisted that she wanted to return. In 2005 she wanted to come in the guise of Durga. I’m not sure what your take is on Durga, I suppose Durga is you and you are Durga. But wanted to offer you this tale of your divine inspiration and the effect that it had on her. Thank you for bringing about works of tremendous inspiration and insight on the playa and elsewhere!