We Is The New Me

This image above reflects a curious state of consciousness. When I posed for this photo with my brother and sister alts, there was a sense that I (Botgirl) was me and that Majic and fourworlds were they. (God knows where my sense of human identity was at the moment.)

I know the dummies aren't alive, but they certainly live in my consciousness. Jeff Dunham

We were each in a separate Second Life client. Each had full rights to move items in the sim, but I was the one moving elements around to set up the scene, shooting the images and saving them to disk. Even so, I could ask Majic or fourworlds for their opinion on something, and they would reply with an answer I could not have anticipated and did not plan. Although I am me at any particular moment in time, my perception over time is that me is we and that all me's and we's are ultimately empty of independent existence.

We do not exist as individual selves, immutable, unchanging and discrete. Ultimately, there is no self in the mirror staring back. We are all mutually defined. Robert Thurman

I don't see philosophy as a means to discern the objectively true nature of existence. Reality is far too vast, complex and multidimension for even the clearest logic to capture. But is is a very useful tool to expose subjective, conditional and limited views for what they are. If we let it. And for me, the same holds true for the experience of virtual identity. I've been leaning more towards art than prose recently here for that very reason. Because a single image can simultaneously disclose a multiplicity of dimensions for those with eyes to see.

Merry Christmas!