Nudists, Burning Man and Locusts

A while back I read of scientific experiments that claimed to have figured out why locusts swarm. Locusts are normally solitary creatures that on rare occasions will completely change their normal behavioral patterns and team up with millions of other locusts. The cause of the locust swarm has been so baffling since biblical times that swarms were considered to be acts of God. In fact, solitary locusts and swarming locusts even look so different that up until 1921 scientists believed that they were completely separate species.

As it turns out, experiments have shown that changes in serotonin levels within locusts cause them to change their behavior and appearance leading to swarms. Serotonin also naturally occurs within the brains of many animals including humans. Elevated levels of serotonin are known to lead to intense feelings of well-being.

So what causes locusts to experience elevated levels of serotonin? The answer appears to be the scent of other nearby locusts as well as having their hind legs fondled. So certain environmental factors can cause normally solitary locusts to be forced onto smaller and smaller patches of vegetation resulting in the raising of their respective serotonin levels leading to swarms.

I can personally say that something very similar occurs when you get a group of people that are willing to be close enough and open themselves up to each other. I've seen it happen at most nude events as well as on gay cruise ships and of course at Burning Man. In each of these cases the feelings of closeness and connectedness with those around me rose as the hours or days passed. I could tell that it wasn't just happening to me because I could simultaneously witness the same changes taking place in those around me. These events have been some of the most intimate and memorable times of my life and are a great reason why I (and likely others) feel such a draw to such events. It is at these times that everything in the universe just seems most perfect.