Art and Style | September 01, 2007 | Comment on this video (21)

The Last Temple

mark430
It would be easy to label David Best as an emancipator. His beautiful Temple of Forgiveness, which is on display for the last time at Burning Man, offers visitors a place to leave past memories behind. Participants are invited to leave a token of a burdensome memory behind. At the end of the festival the Temple is burned to ashes with the sentimental pieces provided by all who wish to participate.
Find out why this Temple has had such a profound impact on its disciples and why this will be the last year David Best continues this tradition.
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21 comments // The Last Temple // Video

  • Incredulous
  • booslut
    • 0
      booslut  

    • hello. id like to thank David best and whoever made this documentary. in 07, my granny died, and instead of going to her funeral filled with bad blood in the family, i chose to take my granny with me to the temple. the temple is sacred to me, and i think it is sacred to anybody who would enter its chambers and see for themselves the spirit of the temple. i felt that taking her to the temple and honoring her in my own way with 43,000 other people who wanted to be there with me was more important than being with a family that didn't want to be together in the first place.

      this documentary will help me explain to the people who didn't understand what i did and why i had to do it. it also helps to explain how the people on the playa may know me better, in a different way than people in the default world. because on the playa and especially in the temple, you can be completely honest with yourself and who you are as opposed to when you constantly have to shape yourself according to the rules of this default world and the circumstances around you.

      my granny's picture is 1:35 in. her funeral was on Wednesday, and that's when i took her to the temple. i greatly appreciated the fact that later in the week as the temple filled up, people respected each others space- no one moved or covered up my granny's picture even though space got scarce by Saturday. in this default life, people would be more apt to cover up the last flyer to put theirs up. here at the temple, people built around one another, with one another to help create this sacred temple that i for one will always keep in my heart.

      so thank you everyone for making this possible, including david best for giving us all his beautiful temples, for my dad who was supportive even though he didnt quite understand what i was doing, but understood that it was important to me, to current tv for all their work, and everyone else who brings even one grain of sand to help make this beach.

      Shepard

    • 2 years ago
  • uffda_uffda
    • 0
      uffda_uffda  

    • wow. i went to this man's temple in 2002 and was very moved by this pod. brought me right back to the playa, even better maybe. thanks current.

    • 2 years ago
  • decox
    • 0
      decox  

    • One of the most touching videos I've seen on Current. Caring humanity is alive and well. Thank you for sharing this.

    • 2 years ago
  • Marc_in_Waikiki
  • MaggieAthena
  • VPKSolutions
  • orivv
  • regina
    • 0
      regina  

    • really beautiful concept and execution. any info on whether the temple will be built this year in the anarchic, community-driven style that he was hoping for?

    • 3 years ago
  • sonicbrainwave
  • changoloco
    • 0
      changoloco  

    • Dear David,
      I met you very briefly in your camp. I'm sorry to say that I never really knew what you looked like. You were very welcoming and offered me a drink and dinner. I was able to forgive my father for many things this year as I wrote on the temple. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful gift with us all.

    • 3 years ago
  • Emmhisattva
  • GrammaConcept
    • 0
      GrammaConcept  

    • Dear Friend David,

      Thank you for bringing these tiny tears to my eyes....I am enormously grateful to know that this has been part of Burning Man....My sense is that this is not the ''last'' Forgiveness Temple'' there....

      Recently I saw a bumper sticker:

      "Forgiveness...Giving up all hope of a better past"..

      Abolutely, acts of Forgiveness in the Present for painful acts of the Past can only lead toward meeting well the True needs of the Future......

      Looking Forward......May Peace Prevail,
      GrammaConcept

      This was on a bumper sticker

    • 4 years ago
  • lifeisshort
    • 0
      lifeisshort  

    • Dear David,

      In 2006, in a very last minute decision, and being "total ignorant to what Burning Man was", we left Philadelphia to spent 4 wonderful days in the desert. After we returned home, I spent the next year studing all things Burning Man. Your name is so intwined with this event that I quickly became a fan of your work. I watched several of your interviews and told myself that I would like to meet this amazing person.

      I am a little embarrased to admitt that I was slightly nervous to say hello. Eventually , I gathered the courage and introduced myself. I shared my breif history with last years burn and told you how I admire your work. With the biggest smile you said " I am a lot shorter in person" and gave me a big hug and wished me a great Burn. I was so happy to witness that you are as genuine as I had preceived. Here is my chance to say thank you for all you have done and that you have touched my spirit. You are my mentor, my hero and I strive to be the same kind of caring man as yourself.

      Your Friend Barry

    • 4 years ago
  • Stormythunderbox
    • 0
      Stormythunderbox  

    • Dear David ... thank you for your profound empathy and your ability to embrace the human spirit when it is grieving. I, too, brought my mother''s ashes to the temple ... the same year her name burned on the plaque with the Man. This year, I cried for those whose grief was still raw as I roamed around your beautiful structure and read the outpouring of emotion, love, thoughtfulness and forgiveness. You are a beautiful man, a beautiful artist, and a beautiful spirit.

    • 4 years ago
  • redbeardpeachies
    • 0
      redbeardpeachies  

    • Dear,david my heart goes out to you . and my heart is broken to know this year is your last .For i will be comming to the playa next year 2008 . and when i look at you temple i see hope .Hope for us all to forgive , to remember, to live . all my best
      peachies

    • 4 years ago
  • CaptainEO
    • 0
      CaptainEO  

    • David, your work has touched me more profoundly than anything else at Burning Man. It became a pilgramage that was always met with welcome beautiful tears of joy, appreciation, pain, healing, and love. I can''t thank you and the wonderful community of BRC enough for the memories, the growth, and the soulfullness that have been born and nurtured in my heart. It has been more special than words could ever explain.

      Burn On!
      -eo

    • 4 years ago
  • fluffer
    • 0
      fluffer  

    • David,
      You have set my soul free. I have been carrying around a burden too large for anyone person. On Saturday after the second burning of the man, I came to the Temple to ask for forgiveness. After writing for what seemed forever, and reflecting on the events that led me to my broken spirit....I began to heal. You have given me the greatest gift - acceptance. Thank you and God Bless you.

    • 4 years ago
  • Alkaiser90
    • 0
      Alkaiser90  

    • This is such a beautiful thing. It reminds me of traditions from Singapore of building things of paper and burning them to send them to relatives and friends in the afterlife, or more especially, sand art done for the sake of meditation, creating beautiful masterpieces to be destroyed after their completion.

      I absolutely love this, and I wish I could have taken part in it before its final iteration.

      Things like this restore my faith in humanity.

    • 4 years ago
  • Justin_Gunn
    • 0
      Justin_Gunn  

    • The burning of the Temple of Forgiveness. They burn it on Sunday night every year as the closing event for all of Burning Man. It's a beautiful and miraculous experience in person.

    • 4 years ago
  • drearyeric
    • 0
      drearyeric  

    • i find the importance on the Temple of Forgiveness and how it can inpact every one that comes to view and pay part in it. lets hope it will live on with the communitee and they take part and make it their dutie to up hold some thing that is important such as this

    • 4 years ago
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