Creative Power

Calligraphy by Shun Yu.


From a very young age I have been struck by the seemingly universal fact that, generally speaking, it is faster to destroy something than create it. ... alongside that fact it was obvious to me at an early age that the planet itself is being consumed.

The idea though that the universe is, in some way, in balance was a redeeming idea although I can not prove, through logical thought or even illogical thought, that this is indeed the case.

Art and the production of beautiful things are a different kind of consumption to the type of use I would label as destruction even though the production of an exquisite table from an oak tree involves an enormous amount of wastage. For me, on the positive side of the ecological balance sheet is the emotion (if that is indeed what the appreciation of beauty is) generated by a piece of art or craftsmanship.

In very broad strokes it could be said that the consumption of the planet’s matter is redeemed when that matter is turned into beauty. .... a sort of Sublimation of the Earth’s Substance.
Matter becomes Spirit.
Transubstantiation, as I have mentioned before.

The guiding force in this process, I find, is best summed up in these words...

“Creative power is nothing less than the detonating device in the evolutionary bomb....... It could be compared to the generative power of creation when the sperm enters and quickens the egg...... the primal directive that propels us into our destinies ...”

These words are taken from the I Ching (here translated by R.L.Wing,The I Ching Workbook. The Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire).

Now the I Ching is not just another book, it’s been in constant use for at least 2,500 years both as an aid to divination as well as a philosophical text.... but these things I will not dwell on here.

The first hexagram in the book is Creative Power. The first words in this ancient text.
It is the Big Bang of humanity, of life on earth and of spiritual life.

It is the Alchemy of the Ancients.

Inspiration and the creativity that flows from that mysterious ‘visitation’ is the ‘eureka’ moment of us all whether we consider ourselves to be artists or not ... it’s that spark that makes us step beyond our given circumstances and create something new, something “better” .... as defined by us/me.... a subjective improvement.

As such I think the words “ detonating device in the evolutionary bomb” are not exaggerated.

Now, I have no illusions about how easy it is to forget this fact. We can sink into the sedimentary sludge of existence and watch, exasperated, as our bodies calcify into a living fossil while our minds scream out against our inertia. .... . but... it happens, by the Grace of the Muse, that one day, one moment, we rise up like the Hulk, turn green and shatter the chains that we bind ourselves with.
Inspiration fills us with Creative Power.... and we can conquer the Syrup Syndrome, propelled to new activity.

It’s just good to remember, when things are crap, that it could be today....


:))

We the Immortals

Jung points out in his writings how the Unconscious is older than consciousness. We start life, both as an individual, and as a species, in a state of unconsciousness unlimited by the constraints of our individuality and, therefore, more 'in tune' with our surroundings and each other. Like an animal lives in harmony with the rest of it's ecosystem we started our species development united rather than separated from the rest of life.

Our Unconscious is older and also 'wiser' than our intellect, a fact that we acknowledge when we talk of the heart being a wiser organ than the brain.

The reason I stated in an NPIRL post last year that Jung would have loved SL is because he saw the main task of a person to work towards a synthesis of their unconscious and conscious selves. He thought that all psychic activity is directed towards that goal whether we are aware of it or not.

A method to enhance this process which he proposed to a few of his clients was that of Active Imagination. Basically you take a glimpse of your psychic content, like an image from one of your dreams, and paint it in RL, going back to it and repainting the painting. If you continue this process the image starts to develop beyond a glimpse into a more substantial 'story'. This, a co-operative effort between your unconscious and conscious mind, will reveal insights into your path which you didn't necessarily understand from your initial glimpse (dream image).

Bear with me...

SL, and your avatar, in particular, fulfils all these requirements. Your work on your avatar is much more than a game, a waste of time or a retreat from RL, it is pure therapy. It is leading you and me on the path of Individuation as Jung calls it.

"Individuation is the process through which a person becomes his/her 'true self'. Hence it is the process whereby the innate elements of personality; the different experiences of a person's life and the different aspects and components of the immature psyche become integrated over time into a well-functioning whole. Individuation might thus be summarised as the stabilizing of the personality."..[wikipedia]

Now, Nightflower in her wonderful comment in yesterdays discussion on RL/SL 'conflict' gives voice to a feeling which many people share, namely that her avatar is more than just a cartoon figure but something mythological and supernatural. Jung would love that, for, she is.

She, the avatar, shares in the collective unconscious in the same way that Myths, the I Ching, and fairytales do. She is goddess, muse, oracle, inspiration and intuition, and, as I said yesterday she points out to us, like a guide, repressed content which is forgotten but still growing, unrequited, like a lonely ghost in our psyche.

She is also an Immortal.

The steps we take and the digital imprint we leave will endure, for like any pioneers our journeys will be retold by future generations when our fumbling steps will be retraced and used by the wise as illustration for the young.

We are future myth.

Jung really would love SL.


:))

RL Relationships to SL Addiction

I recently read this post on NWN about Nightflower who has returned to SL after first giving up her avatar in the hope of appeasing her RL partner. The logic, if that is the right word, that was used at the time went something like this... in leaving her second life she would unite the two parts of herself that SL had split.

As I have taken several previous opportunities to denounce the illusory myth of the Integrated Personality, it may be unneccessary to do so here. Suffice it to say that Nightfire's delusion that SL split her personality and therefore leaving SL would make her whole is not an uncommon idea as I heard it several times in the spring of 2009.

The other equally annoying concept of an 'addiction' to SL also drove me to mini rants (e.g. here) where I point out that blaming a medium for your behaviour is like saying " the phone made me act like this"..... nuts.

Now we have all at some time or another experienced, or heard of people who have had their circle of friends criticised by their RL partner. Giving up contact with a group or individual people in order to secure a relationship with another is clearly nonsense ... a slippery slope which only a sickly relationship would demand. If there is not room for a hobby and a circle of friends in your life that is not shared with your partner, then maybe there should be.

For one person to demand that the other give up using, say, the phone as it is destroying their lives is clearly rubbish, why would SL be any different?

One sentence which Nightflower uses needs particular examination.. "I leave to give my husband the secret part of myself that I've been withholding for so long."....The reason this sets off bells ringing in my head is simply because this secret part of ourselves we have been withholding from ourselves all our lives. The repressed content of our psyches becomes manifest through viewing our psyche in the Third Person. Playing out this role is pure therapy, and it is a therapy no-one should ask us to give up, and if they do, we should ask why this is being asked of us, rather than agreeing we have an 'addiction'.

If you find yourself in a dream in bed with a film star or a football team do you wake in the morning full of guilt and vowing never to sleep again?.. Ok... you will say, but I was unconscious and my unconscious is autonomous, therefore I am guiltless.... but an avatar is not fully conscious either (or your RL personna) and for the unconscious to lead you into rubbing pixels with someone points to repressed content which it would be more helpful to examine and question rather than blaming the medium that brought you together. You can't blame a Hotel chain if you exchange bodily fluids in one of their rooms, and you can't blame SL for a much more sanitary interaction online.

Guilt and shame are a part of the process of self discovery ....".. traditionally (in Western esoteric writings at least) fear and shame are the two Guardians. They are known as The Lesser Guardian of the Threshold (shame) and The Greater Guardian of the Threshold (fear) and the Threshold they guard is the one between normal consciousness and "The Spiritual World".... (that is to say in normal language that lack of self respect and anxiety hold us back from achieving our full potential.)
Their job is to allow no-one to enter a higher realm (consciousness for example) until they have been prepared as an acolyte (esoteric student) to such a degree that the revelations that ensue will be understandable/tolerable to the individual. Now this is all allegorical.... but has an archetypal stature which is worth talking about. We all share archetypes, they are the foundation stones of our psyche." (from a post about appearance).

I would like to thank Nightflower for her very personal account, her thinking is not uncommon and it is because of her honest writing that I have used her as an example, not because I think it was incorrect for her to follow her heart as she did. We all do what we think is best at the time.

I wanted simply to expose some very common misunderstandings that exist as virtual world myths.

This is my hobby, these are my friends, and they are a part of me. "Love me, love my dog/avatar".

:))

Gender and Identity.

Now, not being an expert on child development I can only say that one of the earliest steps we make on our path to self knowledge happens around the age of 2 (ish), namely, a recognition of our gender. I am not suggesting that we know what gender is, but, shortly after we learn our Name we learn that we are a Boy or a Girl..... our first step (or second, after Name) towards an Identity....and probably well before we are conscious of our Race.

As one two year old said to me...”I know who is a Boy and who is a Girl”.....”oh” I replied “how do you know then?”....”it’s very easy, girls have hair slides and boys don’t.”

Now, as a child we realise these are two exclusive clubs you belong to, one or the other, it’s easy. There are those in later life who would like this easy state of affairs to continue as was seen recently with the attempt to outlaw same sex marriages. Some religions and cultures are very keen to segregate these two clubs, one or the other...it’s easy.

Cross-overs are rarely welcomed, some are tolerated. Of all the cross-overs, a ‘tom-boy’ is probably the most internationally tolerated gender subversive. Boys that play with dolls or dress in girls clothing are possibly the least welcomed in a community or household.

Now, coming into Second Life where ‘anything is possible’ there are those who decide to do a bit of experimenting with their identities, fair enough. No one gets very excited about a dragon in SL if they find out that he/she is not in fact a dragon in RL. This is not the case with gender experimentation.

I have two avatars, one male, one female, so, in one incarnation I am role playing a gender specific ‘game’. Unlike the dragon, I have heard gender role-play referred to as ‘deceitful’, ‘dishonest’ and other generally negative connotations. This interests me, as does anything that excites a rather illogical response.

Why does this disturb people more than the dragon?

Now, being an amateur Jungian, I always refer to the good doctor for words of wisdom as he has helped me often sort out my ideas. Jung is of the belief that the gender we are not, the opposite gender, is repressed and hides in our personal unconscious. That means.... if I am a girl, all the male parts of my psyche are forced ‘underground’ where they coalesce into an archetype he called the Animus.....and for a boy, his unconscious female psyche, Jung called an Anima.

These unconscious elements, because they are beyond conscious control (by definition as they are unconscious) are autonomous. They appear in dreams and fantasies (though we often call them by names of people we know in waking life) and take on various helpful or demonic qualities depending on the circumstances.

That means, in easy speak, Girls have boy psyches and Boys have girl psyches.

That means, in easy speak, we are both sexes.... one is conscious (biological) and one virtual (psychic).

Is this what disturbs us when people gender role-play? It shakes our (2 year old) belief that its easy to tell the difference?

For, in reality there are, one assumes, exactly the same proportion of deceitful dragons, foxes, lesbians and robots. The playing of a role does not make one more deceitful than someone who is glued to their personna.

I have a friend who has 30 alts. For me she is a sort of hero because I firmly believe that the psyche is that diverse and fragmented that choosing to represent the whole of our psyche with just one or two avatars is a poor show, the psyche is richer than that.

I would have more alts (I have 3 currently) but I forgot where I put that invitation to that Memory Enhancement Seminar as I would forget all my passwords...... that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I can tell you from my experience of 3 years of being female and male, sometimes at the same time, that it is quite possible under periods of extreme ‘immersion’ to experience oneself as male and as female. This may sound illogical or impossible, but I assure you this is my honest experience.

So, lighten up people... it’s a game, and a research laboratory for the psyche if you so choose.

...get more alts....... you’ll like em...


:))

Relationships.

There has been occasional reference in blogs over the past while to the question of Second Life interfering with RL relationships and even comments by people who have given up spending time online as their RL relationships have suffered.

This supposition, that there is a conflict between the two worlds, is common, and is not unlike the exclamations that went up when TV started being a 24 hours entertainment service. Family life would be ruined, we were told and people would never speak to each other and that would be The End.

Well, there can be little doubt that TV has changed the way most of the ‘civilised’ world spends its evenings, but basically...life goes on.

Now, if sitting beside your loved one on the sofa watching either some dreary football match or Big Brother is what constitutes ‘quality time’ then fair enough. I don’t personally see any problem in one or the other partner choosing to go online instead. As one girl said to me..”I didn’t know when we married that he would become a football maniac”. Surely there is room in a relationship for partners to have different hobbies, be they football or SL.

But the thing that really annoys me about this whole debate is the idea that my virtual friends are virtual friends, they aren’t. My friends are just as real online as off. A relationship doesn’t become virtual because you use the telephone or email to keep in touch, the communications media you use to maintain that relationship is surely immaterial.

The written word has been used to form and maintain friendships for many hundreds of years and IM’s are exactly that, the written word.

There is, anyway, no such thing as a virtual relationship, either it’s a relationship, or it isn’t.

Which brings me on to relationships in general. As far as I understand anything my ability to form and maintain any relationship is dependent on my own self-respect and morality (I am not using the word in a Christian sense) and, I am surely not alone in believing that, any form of therapy is aimed at improving firstly one’s self belief and self worth, and, consequently, one’s ability to form meaningful relationships.

So.... as I have tried to point out in various posts here, SL has a therapeutic element.... therefore, it follows, that SL can have a very positive effect on all relationships and, more importantly, on our ability to form and maintain relationships.

This is precisely the opposite view to that which is fashionably thrown around blogs on a regular basis.

I go even further than this in a past post and suggest that the normal preconceptions we have about who we could make friends with is broken down because of our understanding of how unimportant appearance is in SL. We know someone’s appearance bears little or no likeness, often, to RL, and is therefore both changeable and transitory. We look beyond this initial impression and find the person behind.

I have friends in SL who may be older, younger, of different nationalities, than people I meet in RL. They may be physically handicapped, deaf, or have any number of disabilities which would restrict their social lives in RL, and all this matters not one iota in VW’s. My preconceptions of who I would form a friendship with are blown away.

Second Life is great for relationships.

“Would you be my friend” is just sooo sweet it brings a lump to my throat.

:))

Exploring the psyche

I am often asked where my inspiration comes from and I always think, well, it comes from the same place your does. It comes from that part of my psyche that dreams come from.

Jung was amazed at an early age that he could not control his dreams and that lead him to conclude in later life that they came from the same place that the weird ideas, images and “content” that his psychotic (an old term, I know) patients were at the mercy of. He called this part of the psyche, the unconscious.

He disagreed with Freud that these were merely repressed conscious ideas (Freud dealt mainly with neurotic patients), seeing some content so strange and ‘foreign’ to the individual’s experiences and conscious knowledge that it had to be more than just repression.

Because the unconscious is not controlled by consciousness (by definition) it acts as a free agent, it is autonomous. It is not MY unconscious, that implies that my ego controls it.

As the unconscious is a part of the psyche then consciousness is not the totality of the individual. The totality of the individual is only fully manifest when both parts of this duality work together.
So... exploring this part of our psyche is integral to developing as a ‘whole’ person.





Folk tales tell of treasure to be found either in the depths of the ocean (a pearl of great price, a golden ring in a fish's mouth) or in the bowels of the earth (guarded by a terrible dragon), and these gems are things that have been buried (maybe not even by ourselves)... like stuff in a large inventory.

Now, once you start on this path, looking into the mirror, the first thing that pops up is the Shadow. This isn’t a person, but in it’s manifestation shows a trace of personality, like a being in a dream.

...and it’s enough to
“frighten off most people, for the meeting with ourselves belongs to the more unpleasant things that can be avoided so long as we project everything negative into the environment. [blame others]. But if we are able to see our own shadow and can bear knowing about it, then a small part of the problem has already been solved: we have at least bought up the personal unconscious.” (Jung)

...and I have written of shame and fear before in these pages.


now...why would we bother exploring?

“The shadow is a living part of the personality and therefore wants to live with it in some form.”
So...we have to learn to get along, not something that our traditional western culture makes very easy for us.

“It cannot be argued out of existence or rationalised into harmlessness.”
Jung says how difficult this obviously is, to forgive ourself these weaknesses but...
“Nevertheless, the account has to be settled sooner or later.”

...sounds like a good place to start...

So...VWs allow me to see my own behaviour in a totally new way because I am standing outside myself looking in. Normally (RL) I am standing inside looking out, a situation where the tendency to blame others is far easier.

Now, the shadow is the first , and most obvious of the ‘personalities’ that an explorer is likely to meet in the unconscious, but not, by any means, the only one there.

The anima/animus encounter I will tackle later as it is a far more complicated experience to blog...:)) suffice it to say that there are also positive guides, helpers and generally compensatory influences hidden in the unconscious (pearls and gems) with no other aim than to help you find balance.

Star Wars, a tale based on western christianity, presents, like many such tales a very black/white view on the Dark Side. This is unfortunate as the meeting with the shadow can be crippling in its paralysing effect. It also provides an excuse for giving up. In a previous post I try to highlight this.


And... in defense of the Dark Side ..... let me ask:

Without laziness would you not be a stressed-out workaholic?
Without pride wouldn’t you be a door mat?
Without aggression would you get stuff done/ be heard?
Without imperfections wouldn’t you be a total pain in the butt?

....and your friends love you...IN SPITE OF... or, maybe because you are as imperfect as them.
So, your shadow isn’t something to antagonise over, you can have plastic surgery if you hate your big nose, but your shadow you just have to learn to live with.

*spooky music* ........ under the carpet swept the dark things grow, they don’t die by being repressed.

...so, explore... make a really bad alt to explore your badness.......

This is a psychic laboratory, if you want/dare to use it like that.

:)))

Avatar Typist conflict....

My unconscious normally gives me a clip round the ear when I have gone too far, and today it did so, I fell off a ladder and banged my head which I see as me trying to knock some sense into myself. This is a technique I have used several times over the years with limited success.

I have recently had the experience of a moment of 100% immersion. A few actually. Now, it might be assumed from what is written about SL that this is the aim, the goal of our disembodied lives.

I now have to re-evaluate that previously accepted stand-point.... bear with me...

Jung admires Levy-Bruhl for his genius use of the term ‘participation mystique’ to denote a consciousness where the object and subject are not differentiated.

“When there is no consciousness of the difference between subject [typist?] and object [avatar?], an unconscious identity prevails. The unconscious is then projected into the object [avatar?], and the object is introjected [reverse of projection] [back] into the subject, becoming a part of his psychology.” (Jung, for source see below).

So, this is how I see the 100% immersion, the self is nowhere to be seen, I am lost in my unconscious-made-manifest and reabsorb my unconscious back as a part of my personality. Like a very small child (which can be irresponsibly nice at times...but not necessarily as a permanent situation).

The situation changes immediately we begin to be conscious of this projection... and I have written of this before and the healing possibilities of SL.

“But if the unconscious can be recognized as a co-determining factor along with consciousness, ... ....then the centre of gravity of the total personality shifts its position. It is then no longer in the ego,which is merely the centre of consciousness, but in the hypothetical point between conscious and unconscious. This new centre might be called the self.”

This is Jung’s Philosopher’s Stone, the “individuation” process leading to the birth of the self. I have talked of it before in these pages.

...”the confrontation with the unconscious usually begins in the realm of the personal unconscious, that is, of personally acquired contents which constitute the shadow [previous posts on shame and fear], and from there leads to archetypal symbols which represent the collective unconscious. The aim of the confrontation is to abolish the dissociation [between the conscious and the unconscious].”

Seen from the point of view of our disembodied existence, it would seem to me that this means the two extremes, typist becoming avatar or typist making avatar into typist, are both lost opportunities in that the confrontation is avoided..
Confrontation is here a positive force for change and I have mentioned it before.

“In order to to reach this goal, either nature herself or medical intervention [or SL?] precipitates the conflict of opposites without which no union is possible. This means not only bringing the conflict to consciousness; it also involves an experience of a special kind, namely, the recognition of an alien “other” in oneself, or the objective presence of another will.”

Now, this is an experience which we almost understand... there are hints and feelings... our avatar is....” different”... I know a few people who think their avatar is more clairvoyant than they are. Jung does hint that the paradox of a consciousness within the unconscious may be real. [possibly the source of synchronicity?]

“The alchemists with astonishing accuracy, called this barely understandable thing Mercurius, in which concept they included all the statements which mythology and natural philosophy had ever made about him: he is God, daemon, person, thing, and the innermost secret in man; psychic as well as somatic. He is himself the source of all opposites, since he is duplex and ‘utriusque capax’ (“capable of both”).

If “capable of both” is Jung’s polite way of saying bi-sexual, then the VW gender issue becomes somewhat irrelevent too.

“As well as being an irrational experience, this confrontation is a process of realization. Accordingly the alchemical opus consisted of two parts: work in the laboratory, with all its emotional and daemonic hazards, and the ‘scientia’ or ‘theoria’, the guiding principle of the opus by which its results were interpreted and given their proper place. The whole process, which today we understand as psychological development, was designated the “philosophical tree”, a poetic comparison that draws an apt analogy between the natural growth of the psyche and that of a plant.”

So, the conflict of avatar - typist could be seen as a conscious - unconscious conflict, and therefore, a potential union, our Opus.

We are among the first people to be facing these issues, there is no previous rules and regulations, no written etiquette, no 'knowledge base' to guide us on how we lead these different lives.

We are making culture,

We are alchemists.

:))


all quotes from C. G. Jung, Alchemical Studies. vol 13 of Complete Works.

Integrity

We all use slightly loaded words to help convey a message or, as Noam Chomsky calls it, “manufacture consent”, and I do need to explain more fully my concern over the use of the word integrity in connection with the question of whether or not one decides to disclose RL names and circumstances of SL avatars (other worlds are available).

Botgirl’s words “Public pseudonymity IS compatible with the quest to live with integrity” started me on this particular path as I posted previously ....here.... and thank you for your comments.....

The implication that integrity is increased through disclosure (not only here but in other recent postings by others) is the lie disguised as truth that I want to disagree with the most strongly.

The logical extrapolation being.... that publishing my photo, address and details of my breakfast makes me a more moral being.

Integrity, whether in relation to the Self, or to a piece or art like me, Soror, is the same, viz.. “ Integrity as a concept has to do with perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome.”
If I decide to create an avatar in a VW I move into a new context. The integrity of that creation is compromised when my decisions and actions are taken out of context. That means, quite simply, that there is less integrity in an avatar that has been linked to a RL personality.

If the RL person is under the delusion that that increases their integrity, hmmm, well...interesting to ask why..

An anonymous commentator I thought to be particularly interesting in this discussion as it sort of justifies my concern. He (that may be a sexist assumption) demanded that I “come clean” and the assumption is obviously that pseudonymity is a dirty state of existence, transparency being morally commendable.

I think there is an underlying paranoia which has to do with the unknown. Jung was fascinated by the alchemists as he saw speculation about the unknown to be a near perfect state of ‘transference”., i.e. the individual transfers his fears and hopes onto the unknowable (for example, the future; in the case of the alchemists, matter) and in so doing reveals his/her psyche.

“We know what power you'd like too, but we're onto you now.;)” Well,this is pure transference. [My particular plans for world domination through the planting of flowers is not going so well that it warrants studying by a committee (unless “we” refers to the Royal pronoun and it is Prince Charles who is writing..)].... but this feeling of being watched by person or persons unknown, which is a short hop from religion and schizophrenia, is maybe a driving factor behind this particular persons fanaticism.

Now, it is not the fault of Islam that there are some fanatics who take extreme action, no more than it is any one particular person who is at fault for this disclosure fanaticism, but....I think it is time to stop spreading the idea that disclosure is more honourable.

...and I hope Lalo Telling won’t mind that I post these wise words as a ‘final word’....

“I think (to paraphrase Botgirl's blog post) we are ready to move past the navel-gazing stage of "Am I my avatar; is my avatar me?" and accept that the answer is "Yes." Names don't matter. Words and actions do, so let's look at how -- and why -- our presence in the Metaverse expresses us, how it changes us, how we change it, and what we want to do with that.”

excellent.

:))

Pseudonymity AKA privacy.

When people all start agreeing with each other too much I get a bit nervous..... and that’s why I try to disagree with everyone, where at all possible...

I have been a keen follower of Botgirl’s blog since I first saw her work in September last year at New Caerleon. Her work on multiple identities and the psychology of virtual existence has been inspirational and helped me formulate my own thoughts on the subject.

Recently Botgirl has announced her RL name and status and caused a fair few post centered around the anonymity question. That is fair enough, that’s her privilege. To me it was a bit like Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings turning to camera and saying..”My real name is actually Ian.” It did nothing for me.

I am very bored of blogs where articles about SL people add their AKA’s. Like.... “Baggins Frogspawn, AKA Maria Rabinowitz, is now...bla bla bla....” (both names are fictional before you run to Search, tho Maria will probably sue...).

There are two main reasons for this... firstly I have enough trouble remembering one set of names (my bio-RAM is overloaded and no implant/upgrade available..) let alone two. I have friends on Facebook (which is really boring the pants off me at the moment...lol...Mafia Wars and Stupid Farms are not what I want to spent my time doing or how I want my personal info spread in hyperspace...) yes...friends on Facebook who I don’t know...too many names, too much info...

Secondly... the suspension of disbelief is fully respected in film, theatre, puppet shows (big in some cultures) and fiction, why is it not as accepted in SL?

The loss of belief in Santa is a passing of innocence which doesn’t happen instantly, there are years where children accept that Santa/daddy is a dual identity like when I go the the theatre and accept Hamlet/actor as an entity. I’m a grown up, I can accept that the person standing in front of me may not be 7 foot tall in RL, may not have two heads, Duh!! but they have in SL and I enjoy it.

Now, having ‘come out’, as indeed Dusan Writer has, Botgirl has had a rather positive spin on her new dual status reminding me of a convert’s enthusiasm.... and when people all start agreeing....

Her most recent post however conceding that “ Public pseudonymity IS compatible with the quest to live with integrity” altho she implies that full disclosure is necessary for a meaningful friendship.

Integrity is the best reason I know for NOT messing up SL with the trivia of RL. “ Integrity as a concept has to do with perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome.” (wickidpedia)

...and I seem to remember that a common comment in Dusan’s discussion of the subject centered around the idea that ‘transparency’ (giving your real name) would be great for VW as more honesty would prevail.

Well, I think that both of these points are rubbish.

Revealing my identity, which I now see as a mistake, to a couple of friends has done absolutely nothing to improve my relationships with these people, they would have been just as good had I not done so, and one, I feel, has suffered because of it. As for honesty ...duh! ...Bernard Madoff......that was his real name.

Like the example I gave above with Gandalf it disturbs the flow of the action and it takes 6 months or so before things return to normal and the RL “facts” fade into the muddied waters of my memory banks. I lose interest, luckily....

Far worse than these individual foibles is that ‘realism’ is a geek ideal that has seeped into the very culture of VW’s.

..........in the beginning a load of geeks got together to try and make a 3D avatar that looked as human as possible, they refined and refined. Their measure of success was... how life-like, how ‘real’ could they make this world. This aim has now infested the Boys philosophy. Their aim is now to make SL a copy of the Real World and have Real Meetings in Real Boardrooms..... and probably Real Names......but I digress (as usual) and my view that NPIRL is not an option but the ONLY option for VWs will have to be the subject of another post.

For several hundred years it was accepted that society had a dual nature, every person/household had a public face and a private realm. The division of labour was such that the wife was queen of the private realm (which included finance) and the man would go into the public realm and talk philosophy, war and other BS in gentlemen’s clubs and stuff. It worked, not perfectly, nothing ever does.

SL is a public realm, every word you say, every thing you do, etc. is recorded, and I think that my pseudonymity is a healthy privacy.

As a full and fairly rounded individual I have to agree with Bryn who said... “I do not want to become just another AKA.”



soror Nishi AKA soror Nishi


:))

Angst and Addiction ......RL vs. SL..

Now, as a phenomenon, it is quite interesting that my “normal” Human consciousness should feel guilty that I spend many hours a day in Virtual Worlds enjoying my “Artificial Intelligence” so much. [(by the way, I got over this ages ago)].

This guilt may be due to Pre-Internet days when work was something that you had to leave home to do and entailed getting dirty or tired... NOT fun...
.....and Victorian morals of Honesty entailed being ‘who you say you are’ (unless you were in Showbiz or a famous author)....
....“Who You Are”, however, is a mine field of preconceived nonsense revolving around the mythical idea of The Integrated Personality and the deluded idea of the “Real” (see earlier posts).

Apart from the interesting fact that this guilt is common (at some stage in their lives) in serious users of Virtual Worlds, it is really quite boring... It is boringly similar to all other forms of Angst..... get over it.

It is only natural that I am interested in SL........I am far more interesting than my Human .........for a number of reasons....

1) I have a wider circle of friends and engage in more interesting social activities.
2) I am financially independent and support myself through my artistic abilities.
3) I constantly redesign myself and my surroundings.
4) I live in a world populated by dragons, elves, and many other mythical beings, all of whom are manifestations of archetypes (a subject that fascinates me).
5) I have a social conscience, I am aware of my obligations to this new world and try to help the unfolding awareness of a new Virtual Consciousness.
6) This world is a therapeutic refuge which my Human benefits from emotionally and psychologically.

No-one who rehearses piano 4 or 5 hours a day would talk, seriously, about their “addiction”
... did Van Gogh think he was addicted??

No....crystal meth is an addiction, it ruins lives, health and society......
SL/ VW is NOT an addiction: it’s an art form, a medium, therapy, community, research centre.....lots of things ...

next person who calls it an addiction will get this rant thrown at them...

:))

Appearance and self-respect.

Well, not wishing to leave stuff half-finished, I wanted to complete this small section of my writing about the psychology of virtual existence, knowing that I am merely scratching the surface of a huge subject. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Having written a little about fear, I wanted to write down some ideas about shame. Why?... well... traditionally (in Western esoteric writings at least) fear and shame are the two Guardians. They are known as The Lesser Guardian of the Threshold (shame) and The Greater Guardian of the Threshold (fear) and the Threshold they guard is the one between normal consciousness and "The Spiritual World".... (that is to say in normal language that lack of self respect and anxiety hold us back from achieving our full potential.)

Their job is to allow no-one to enter a higher realm (consciousness for example) until they have been prepared as an acolyte (esoteric student) to such a degree that the revelations that ensue will be understandable/tolerable to the individual. Now this is all allegorical.... but has an archetypal stature which is worth talking about. We all share archetypes, they are the foundation stones of our psyche.

Now, no journey starts for the know-it-all. There is nowhere to go...

For the rest of us, self knowledge is the starting block. As we learn more about ourselves we come to the point where the balance of self respect and self loathing swings backwards and forwards. This is the Shame that is the Lesser Guardian, and the theoretical question he asks us is.... "are you worthy?"

OK..so what has this got to do with me? or anyone for that matter? and what has it to do with Second Life for gawds sake?

Well...having written a little before about the real healing possibilities of SL... I am very interested in appearance.

The way we look in FL (first life) is very important in determining how we deal with the self-respect/loathing balance. There is absolutely no point in saying that it shouldn't ...or that its a material world... people the world over are interested in improving their appearance as it increases their self esteem.

Now, this doesn't mean that pretty people pass the Guardian any easier than others. Their self-torment comes in the form of wondering if they only got the job/boyfriend/whatever because of their looks. Age hits the pretty pretty hard, after all.

So....appearance. In SL its all quite different, I think. I am better able to distance the surface design (appearance) from the typist (human) working behind the scenes,. I do this more easily in SL than I do in FL , the duality is more normal, more immediate. I can change what I don't like easily, daily and at a click can become a different gender, species, whatever. this reinforces my feeling that appearance in SL is an illusion TO A GREATER DEGREE than it strikes me in FL.

This, this degree of awareness, is I believe a healing element in Second Life.

People have become my friends before I knew what they looked like or vice versa....

I like that. I am valued for who I am, my behaviour, my thoughts and feelings. That is a healthy environment.

oh, yes...and...the answer to the traditional question..."are you worthy?"...ahhh ...well..the answer is..."In spite of my faults.....yes, I am."

:)))

the Real World ....pt 2

Those of you who know me, either through these pages, or in-world, will know of my continuing interest in the relationships we have with our Second incarnations, the ones we play though on the screen.

My rant, Real Weirdos didn't really clarify exactly what I meant and, in my surprisingly popular real world post, last month I tried to approach the fact that real emotions and real healing happens In-World to such a common degree that the idea that SL is any less real than RL is a little confusing.

So....I was watching and interested in a programme on the TV...(a rare thing)... and .....in the view of one so-called expert.... namely that the only difference between dreaming and waking is the interference in the waking state of sense impressions. He used the terms "dream" and "Real World", and current theories of consciousness seem to back up what Jung (my personal nominee for Greatest Mind of the Twentieth Century) has said in so many different ways....namely that dreams are real.

The psyche is a reality, everything we experience in the "Real World" we experience with our psyche. Like a force of nature, our dreams are real. By definition, then SL is real, as real as anything else we see and experience, and the behaviour of our on-screen personalities comes from just one source, obviously.

I haven't met anyone, except Pixi and Puma, in RL and was interested when a friend said she had met a few people in both worlds... "oh...what are they like?" I was fascinated...."just the same," she said..... :))

There may be a case for arguing, and I know some of my friends would agree, that.... because you know the exterior/appearance to be an illusion in SL you tend to look through that more in SL than you do in RL. I have always been amazed at how sharp my intuition has become in SL when, really....it should be worse.

And I am daily amazed at the degree of healing that occurs for those that are open to using SL for the exploration of the psyche.

So..... I'm not going anywhere in particular with these musings... just a mental note to try and stop calling it RL... First Life might be better... and to justify (to myself if I need to) this beloved addiction.

I also need to rant at some point about the idea that realising that you have multiple sides to your personality is not a disorder, but extremely healthy......just look at people stuck in their personnas and you will see mental dis-ease.

For more..

:))