Contemplation
Sincere apologies all around for my protracted absence. I’ve had some difficulties to resolve in both lives. Happily, it seems that life number two is back on track and humming along - and life number one has been much less contentious. It appears I have a great deal for which to be thankful.
My prior post was a bit cryptic and was easy to misinterpret. It was not a jab at anyone, but rather a lament of general frustration. I hate grouping people into categories, but there is clearly a distinction between people who understand the Second Life™ paradigm and those who don’t - and a further distinction between people who don’t get it and people who make a concerted effort not to get it. It doesn’t mean that we love these people any less, but it can certainly be frustrating to the point of mental exhaustion to contend with the disconnection.
Second Life (or any interactive virtual environment, for that matter) is a meeting and merging of hearts and minds. There are aspects that could easily cause one to presume that virtual life is a utopia where everything is beautiful and perfect - where every expectation is met, every dream fulfilled, where disappointment and disillusionment do not exist. Anyone who has dwelt in world for any length of time knows this is certainly not the case.
Nearly everyone comes to Second Life hoping to be a representation of their ideal self. Nearly everyone winds up as a virtual version of their real self, with their aspirations as well as their misgivings, their flaws and faults as well as their better angels. I personally feel that my virtual presence in Second Life is a much truer expression of my inner self - which, of course, means that the faults are much more obvious as well.
I think, perhaps, my greatest personal shortcomings are defensiveness and self-centeredness. Despite my best efforts, these have reared their ugly head in Second Life - at their worst, in the presence of my own partner. While I am deeply sorry that this happened, I am also somewhat relieved. It’s like falling down for the first time when you’re on skates - you’re scared to death of it happening, but once it’s happened, you realize you’re not broken, the end of the world hasn’t come, and all you need to do is get back on your feet and try again.
That is what we are doing.
Yes, Second Life is about exploring, and escaping and having a good time. But it’s also much more than that. And that’s often difficult to impress upon someone who is not involved or sees it as just another game or bit of escapism. So when things happen to shake up the pixelated world that we populate, it’s not always easy - perhaps impossible - to explain what has happened, or why it has affected us the way it has, or why persist with it when things happen to make us sad, or angry, or despondent. After all, it’s “just entertainment”, right?
It’s life. And we shouldn’t run away from our problems in Second Life any more than we should in our “first life”. That we can face our problems here - in a world where it’s much, much easier to simply disappear without a trace and without any (apparent) consequences - rather than switch them off, is a genuine sign of maturity.
Even if they are sometimes faced in the form of a rabbit.