153 Syd Gris: Burning Man, Opulent Temple, & Leadership Lessons

My next guest is Syd Gris. He is one of the longest-running fun creators in the Bay Area music and underground arts scene, Syd is known as a Renaissance man of the West Coast burner scene, and with good reason. Not only is he the co-founder (in 2003) of the legendary Opulent Temple collective (best known for their premiere sound stage at Burning Man), he is also the founder of Opel Productions, (2002) which has been consistently throwing club events and parties with purpose in San Francisco for 20 years.  

He also is a child psychologist with a Doctorate in transpersonal psychology, an outspoken promoter on social issues.

We talked about:

(0:48) What is transformation?

(02:42) What is our eternal nature? How do we connect to it

(05:30) What did you learn from interviewing Jack Kornfield and Ram Dass?

(22:31) How do the stories we tell ourselves impact our life?

(24:10) How do you infuse your philosophy into Opulent Temple experiences?

(30:45) What do you hope to accomplish in sharing the various aspect of your own consciousness?

(34:49) How do you find the line between lecturing at others and curing the space?

(38:16) What do you say to the naysayers?

(42:04) What does it take to bring Opulent Temple to the playa?

(53:58) What is a notable low moment for Opulent Temple

(56:25) What are the top lessons from running Opulent Temple?

(58:32) How do you learn to surrender?

(61:23) What'd you say to the younger version of yourself 20 years ago?

(67:08) What do you do to ensure that people bring the right energy to build?

(71:18) What's one thing you wished you had known

(76:31) After 20 years, what are you excited about?

(81:15) The 4 recipes for a quiet desperate life

(82:11) Burning Man is a great opportunity to deepen your bonds

Links:

Spin article about Syd's role in sound at BM - https://www.spin.com/2015/09/syd-gris-burning-man-interview/

Interview about sound camp history and related topics on Burn.life - https://www.burn.life/blog/interview-with-syd-gris

Copy of a 2009 article that appeared in DJ Mag, an international publication on dance music and its culture, written by the Editor in Chief at the time- 

https://www.opulenttemple.org/dj-mag-feature-on-opulent-temple/