Are we more free in the virtual world of Second Life (SL)? Potentially, and there have been real social/political movements that took place in Second Life that had a very real First Life impact. Second Life does allow another level of expression. I can make a statement in my very form here. Freedom of imagination.
Freedom from logistics too, I woke up and opened my laptop to be here. But are we more what we want to be than in our first life? We can be, or we can move away from it. Many people use SL, at least at first, to go into fantasy. Fantasy by itself isn’t inherently freedom. Freedom is a reality. A freedom to actualize your dreams. Trying new roles is freedom. There are men who represent themselves as women, women who represent themselves as men, and here they are treated as they choose to appear.
Why can we make dreams come true in Second Life and we can’t do that in our real life? Your car won’t go if you won’t release the breaks. Choose how you will apply the breaks, and you drive freely.
In a sense SL speeds up our evolution, going through cycles and phases faster? Yes.
Successes are reinforcement to our egos? You are never free in denial, so a strong ego is the first step to being free of ego. A strong ego can be seen as ego, and seen clearly for its limits.
Ego also needs to be known for what it is and what it can do, so the ego itself is not the enemy. It’s a tool? No, a sense of self is a tool. If you don’t mistake it for true self, you are free. Start seeing it as your true self and you are not free.
What do people want in Second Life? Diversion, fantasy, to meet and befriend people or to meet and provoke them. It is not a game. World of Warcraft (WoW) is a game and socially it is very different from Second Life. The social element is very much secondary in WoW. It has a social element, but more like what arises in sports you can even get to know yourself there. Thus people will get to see you as one of the classes, because either they made your acquaintance in that role or you show that you are really best at being that.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~