Succes in SL

Five showed Second Life to a friend. This friend was very curious and asked a lot of questions? She was very interested in the appearance of the avatars. So you can edit yourself? Yes, nose, mouth, ears, eyes, legs, arms…But also your entire skin. You can change in a second from agreeably sun burnt to a very nice pale, slightly colored skin. You can even do a tryout with an image on your skin. Five does very well with a very brightly colored pentagon, which happened to fall by accident on the spot for tattoos! Some people think this skin is freaky, but others tend to like it. Five is visible with this skin in other blogs.

The eyes of Five’s friend started to twinkle, apparently some desires were come from deep down under…..then she asked: and can I edit my success in Second Life too? That was not really what Five expected! Never thought about this possibility!

But this remark started a whole sequence of thoughts. What is success, anyway? For some it is selling much, for others being loved, supporting a family. Indeed, everything about the avatar can be edited, but just not - the most important, if you really think about it.
In the appearance menu there is even the very interesting radio button male-female, which gives you the possibility to experience (in a primitive sense) what it is to walk around as the other sex. But then this simple question about editable succes clearly shows what kind of 'features' are not at all editable: your speech ability, nice or not so nice behavior, the response of others on your ideas about the world, your friendship, solidarity, working power……and the success in SL, in whatever sense you want to consider this……

Without a doubt, this “what is left” is about two universes more than your simple appearance! You can call this world a “Second Life”, in the sense of a Paradise, at last, but you still end up with yourself. ANd being your own prison is a very, very old thought of mankind.

Five was still pondering about all the consequences of this innocent remark of someone still surviving without SL when Armoe Lipo came along. An old friend for SL standards, so Five told him about the visit and the fruitful discussion about editing your appearance in SL, and that we possibly need, but won’t get, Five supposes, a slider indicating success.

Armoe Lipo immediately started an in depth analysis of the stupidity of the notion of success! He showed very effectively in an unstoppable landslide of chat, that success totally depends on its definition and your position in life! And indeed he is very right! Not the definition of success or the editing of it is important: editing yourself is much more essential. All this appearance stuff, male-female included, is quite childish compared to this transforming yourself.

This powerful intervention of Armoe Lipo gave the train of Five’s thoughts a totally other direction. It was a fine example of the manner language influences our perception of the world, and how words, language, ideas, can be molded and interpreted in an endless variety of ways. The question, which can of course never be answered, about the 'real' relation between language and reality, is very near.

Five likes it tremendously that these discussions, all on a very human level, take place in Second Life! All in this tiny, simple window for chat! So we have a mission: edit yourself. Don’t stop at the length of your nose!
For this simple and very difficult duty, forced labour for every day of the rest of your life, Five wishes you…..succes!