Bohemian Grove

While travelling recently in California, I had the opportunity to stop by the Bohemian Grove. It's a place I have long been curious about. It was an uninvited visit, so I wasn't able to enter the private property of the Grove. But just seeing the entrance was quite an experience in itself.

The Bohemian Club hosts an annual summertime encampment at the Grove. It's an event where a couple thousand or so of some of the world's most powerful men gather to supposedly, and among other things, banish their cares about the world. This banishment of care is exemplified in the encampment yearly initiation ceremony, which is descriptively titled the "Cremation of Care." In the ceremony, the effigy of a young child named "Dull Care" is sacrificed and cremated upon an altar.

Here are some photos from the entrance, and more of my thoughts about the "cremation of care."



Caring is a virtue. To care ought NOT to be thought of as onerous or burdensome.

We are all of one human family.

We are, each of us, complete, within and of, our own selves.

That's truth.

There is also truth in power. But it is not a full or complete truth. The full truth, a holistic truth, takes into account the effects of our actions on others. When another, or others, are hurt by my activities (or even perhaps lack thereof,) whether the activities be personal, recreational, professional and/or business, then a balance has been broken - a harmony disrupted. We are all one human family, and no one is left undamaged when we hurt one another. No one is left unscathed. Not the aggressor (or oppressor), nor, certainly, the target (of oppression - or any type of hurt.)

Human beings are to be respected. Not exploited. Not commodified. Not treated as a market for the peddling of wares. Human beings are sacred, and very worthy of being cared for.

Humans are here on Earth to be stewards, gardners, protectors - guiding perhaps, and improving, and beautifying - but not ruling. I believe that humans are not meant to rule over each other, nor to rule over the Earth.

Here's a link to an article by Alex Shoumatoff published in the May 2009 Vanity Fair magazine: www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/05/bohemian-grove200905

More information about the Bohemian Grove from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove

More photos:


Bohemian Grove "Timber Harvest" Paperwork


Bohemian Grove County Line


Entrance to Bohemian Grove