I visited Second Life this morning and found myself showing a Brazilian educator around the Peace Park, a religious resource designed by US librarians. My Brazilian acquaintance, now an SL friend, was a newbie. I regret, when it comes to ‘basics’, I’m fine with Islam (and perhaps Christianity), but I stumble with respect to other religions. Yet if I am going to write about religion and religions in Second Life, I need to brush up on the fundamentals – e.g. what would you find inside a real-life synagogue? Note to self — need book on religious buildings, perhaps one aimed at children.
My sustained period of isolation has left me socially anxious, even on SL.
My Brazilian friend asked a revealing question about the nature of Second Life relationships, responding to a comment I made about an old SL friend:
[2:28] Drown Pharaoh: This card over here has links to different places in SL
[2:28] Drown Pharaoh: This Jewish temple was not here last time I came
[2:29] Drown Pharaoh: BO is the most famous Jewish person on SL
[2:29] Drown Pharaoh: she is an artist and a lovely person
[2:29] TB: ok
[2:29] Drown Pharaoh: she built the first synagogue, or shul on SL
[2:29] TB: that is great
[2:29] TB: do you know her in the first life [my emphasis]
[2:29] Drown Pharaoh: on her sim, there is a giant teapot you can sit inside to drink tea
[2:30] Drown Pharaoh: no, she lives in the States
[2:30] Turrioni Buccaneer: ok
Even after so long, I feel a strong emotional attachment to avatars/people I befriended on SL, and I talk about them as if I knew them personally – which to some extent, I do. Or do I? Perhaps I need to go back to Tom Boellstorff’s book on Second Life before I re-engage more fully with Second Life. There is still so much about my past experiences of SL that I don’t really understand.
Filed under: books, religion, second life
