The "Meet" Market (Synthesis Note [44])

I was having a conversation recently with an SL resident who was essentially saying that she does not understand why people take relationships in Second Life so seriously. Her relationship in world is strictly sexual as she enjoys the delights of intellectual dialogue and the excitement that is experienced when another person describes in great detail the way the sexual fantasy makes them feel in the tangible world. She appreciates living her SL without the messy details of being in a committed relationship. She firmly declared “Its role play, not Match.com!

I don’t know that I agree with that. When newcomers to the grid visit the Second Life website, they are greeted by a video montage that includes a virtual couple enjoying a romantic date together that ends with them embracing at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I would say Linden Labs is on board with the idea that sex sells and people are coming to SL for more than business meetings or combat role play. 2010 statistics indicate that 17% of all partners who got married in the past year met over the internet. That’s A LOT of couples. Its par for the course that some of that match making would have occurred on gaming platforms.

Unlike sites like “Match.com” Second Life offers two things 1) the ability to create yourself in your grandest vision and to “live” within that ideal; and 2) the ability to remain completely anonymous while actively engaging others socially. Unlike other virtual gaming platforms, it is strictly a social grid. No levels to achieve, no PVPing or battles to win. Although it may not always be the intention of people visiting SL to fall in love “with an avatar,” It happens thousands of times a day. Its hard to resist being pursued in your perfection and having the ideal you’ve held in mind and translated digitally, be validated by another person. Even better, it allows someone to really get to know YOU, appreciating that most people accept that the human behind the screen is not likely to be an identical match to his or her avatar.

The tricky part is being open enough with your partner to be clear about expectations of the relationship...because as my counterpart asserted, for her SL is for role play, not a true love connection. If you find yourself looking for that, and are not clear that it is role play for your partner, you are inevitably set up for heartbreak and lots of disappointment.

The key is going into relationships with your eyes WIDE open and to have expectations CLEAR in your mind…clear enough that you can convey them to another person and clear enough that you can excuse yourself from potential relationships that do not meet that. After all, if you ARE seeking a love connection in a virtual world there are many MANY possibilities, and why settle or take time and opportunity away from the person you truly desire? It is unfair to blame someone else for your disappointment if you failed to inquire about another person’s expectations or worse, never communicated your own.

The diversity of Second Life extends beyond anything we can experience in the tangible world, which in some ways may make it seem more appealing than life lived amongst the breathing. Any ideal you fantasize about for yourself or a partner, assuredly exists. As you explore all the possibilities, don’t lose touch with who you truly are, and that which will bring both lives happiness and fulfillment. In short, don’t become “meat” in the market. (grin)

Love, peace and blessings XO

Acu

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Joining the Illuminati: ...on "One" Conspiracy

Let me begin by saying that as I offer my opinions about the veracity of the Illuminati, it is surely tainted by my own spiritual beliefs. I am not supposing that I am the end all be all on any subject and would never tell you what to think. I will however give you some things to think about and hope that if you are moved to strongly invest in ideas in favor of or against what you are about to read, that you will take the time to read or/and or listen to what is out there and come to your own opinion. Accepting what someone else has identified as “truth” is sort of what got us into this mess. We need to be more proactive in thinking for ourselves. With the access we have to people around the world , via the internet and social media, there is no reason to accept any one postulate as “truth.”

With that being said, let me add that I am what I am, with regard to spiritual beliefs, largely because of where I was born and raised. Any good sociological study (and some good old fashioned common sense) will confirm that people born in the United States are statistical likely to be Christians, as natives of India tend to be Hindus, and those of Saudi Arabia are typically Muslims. Although I claim no specific religious affiliation and enjoy learning from various teachings, inevitably, my Christian roots tend to serve as a foundation from which I make sense of most of what I have learned spiritually.

In a world where 30 years of oppressive rule can be brought down in 3 weeks, using social media and the internet (see overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, January 2011), we are realizing that there is power in having control over how information is disseminated and are thus empowered to ask questions the answers to which might have previously been tremendously difficult to find. A similar phenomenon occurred when the Bible, (a text whose teachings had previously only been privileged to religious leaders who were then responsible for disseminating and teaching it to the masses in a manner dictated by the leaders of the time), was put into print for the lay person to read for themselves. It opened the door for new understanding, interpretation and MISinterpretation, at least to the degree it was written and then printed for mass consumption.

Centuries later, we all seem to be searching for new answers to our spiritual questions and understanding of the world and how we function in it.

Enter, the Illuminati.

Conspiracy theorists have speculated about secret orders and mystical control over the masses using a variety of means for centuries. Recently however, with speculations about the end of the world, One World Government and One World Religion people have become more receptive to the idea of  “inner workings” of some great group of ridiculously rich and powerful people who are using the media and control of the economy to corral the masses to live under their complete control. Their goal? Ruling the world with slavery and dictatorship. Proof given to validate these claims are “secret symbols” that once interpreted, demonstrate this villainous plan. Secondarily, several governmental leaders mentioning the words “New World Order” in their speeches solidify that their previously unseen plan for world domination has been exposed.

Let me pause for one moment to ask you to breath and think. If the symbolism is secret and you know about it and have an interpretation, is it still a secret? …and if these leaders, who are operating under some mysticism which will work to corral the masses have done so for centuries, did they somehow forget how to keep it secret all of a sudden? Alzhiemers maybe? (grins)

If you google “Illuminati” you will turn up all means of articles, blogs, videos, etc., that are prepared to inform and enlighten you about this New World Order. Not only that, but every successful celebrity or athlete is most certainly a part of the Illuminati, or that is what many of the posters would have you to believe. They have all “signed deals with the devil” but its no secret, because any recognizable international figure is part of the clan, at least according to your google results. 

With the break down of religion and questions about the nature of good and evil, could it be we are looking for something to be our new devil …to be our new dark? Every generation gets the evil monster it deserves based on the societal fears of the time. When we bring these “demons or conspirators” to the light, they often reveal our deepest fears and desires about everything from sex and death to celebrity, immortality and class warfare. As long as humans have fears to confront, we will find something “out there” onto which we may project those fears so that we can point at something other than what is really going on inside of us.

If you look long enough you will find the actually definition of the word “illuminati” as  (a group of ) “people claiming to possess special enlightenment or knowledge of something.” I would invite you to embrace THAT as a group worth being a part of. Not the influential intellectuals and progressive politicians of the current pop phenomenon, but part of a group of enlightened persons invested in the idea of Unity of mankind. After all, all humans are “people” but not all will buy into this idea as “true”. Besides, our world sure could use some new ordering. Its quite a mess! What if we could all coexist and accept one another as is, without the need to “change” anyone? What if we all embraced the one truth that we are much more the same than we are different, in our humanness, and in our belief in the existence of something great than ourselves operating within and around us (i.e., God, Spirit, Science, etc) ? What if we all lived cooperatively and in support of the physical, emotional, and spiritual growth of one another? If that process is guided by the truly enlightened or the true Illuminati, ...especially given the power to connect to people and share information… perhaps One government and One religion is something worth working toward…not fighting against.

…In the name of Unity... One Blood, One People, One God…

One Love :)

Acu

p.s. will this new proclamation of joining the  Illuminati add my signature to the increasing names popping up on google searches? If so, I hope it increase hits to my blog! I need to monetize that bad boy (chuckles)

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"Keep It Moving" (a poem)

He comes in the night

She draws back her curtain

His words are convincing

Still she feels uncertain

He says "No drama"

and has no shame

"Don't hate the player

Hate the game.."

What she does not see 

Behind the screen

A human typist

and low self esteem

His ego is grand

When his face is hidden

and he'll go to places

That were once forbidden

His philosphy of life

Reveals his true weakness

His time in life spent

With little achievement

His friends list revealed

He reads like a book

If she is fast and easy

He drops the hook

but a Man, proudly certain

will sets his sights high

and will not settle

for a quickly raised thigh

Great effort produces

The highest aquisition

His desire aroused

By his soul's intuition

To conquer the woman

He most admires

Affirms to his soul

Worth of all he aspires

Perhaps in time

He will know his value

Look for depth in his life

and the Love he is due

Until then he'll continue

The pseudo expert of seduction

With the women in his path 

Victims of his destruction

Take heed willing lady

If His worth is left unproven

Save yourself the heartbreak

and  tell him... "keep it moving..."

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