Currently posted on www.lifebeforebusiness.com

I can be a successful bridge; whether between two people, two groups or two ideologies.   What I have realized is that:   First I have to bridge the opposing viewpoints in my own brain and heart; then   I can begin helping to make bridges between other entities.
 Case in point: Second Life   a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.  Since opening to the public in 2003, Second Life has grown explosively and today is inhabited by more than 1,444,466 people from around the globe.

 I feel scared and cautious about the virtual reality movement. It is happening, and I don’t understand it.  I realize that I’m being left behind because I am not attracted to immersing myself in a virtual reality.  My fear is that unless I pay close attention to how I think, feel and act, I will totally succumb to the world of virtual realities. I understand the ways my addict mind finds to escape from my own reality.   I would not give a flip about the one I’m in now. .  I know that my lack of trust for a large sector of humanity that is more involved on-line than with what is going on them, is of my own making.  Just because the virtual world is a dangerous place for my addict mind, does not mean that it is dangerous for everyone.
I’m an odd combination of being a lover of the Earth and of science fiction.  I love creatively intelligent people and soul searchers.  But, I get discouraged with the general malaise of our community values; especially when I see beautiful wide spaces of land and trees demolished to build yet another huge shopping center.  This seems to be evidence that we’re not playing well with all the gifts we have on this Earth.
A bridge between the virtual world and this one could only happen if the creators and developers were aware of the impacts of what they are creating and the players of virtual realities, such as a Second Life, maintained consciousness about who they are and what their values are inside of both the real and the imagined realities. Then, perhaps, good things could possibly come of it.  For instance, the morphing of E-Bay stores within the virtual world where products are bought and sold and delivered to people in this reality without having to use  existing lands to build centers for displaying and selling their products.
I’m still hesitant to accept, however,   the societal impact of the use of mass virtual reality.  I suppose if  I were a psychologist, this would be a fascinating labyrinth of human experience to explore, but I’m just a coach who is more interested in helping others.   Today I am much more interested in exploring rivers by kayak, scuba diving in oceans I have yet to swim in, hiking mountains in far away countries, and choreographing dances to the music that I love.   I want to feel the brisk water on my face, touch the soft sand of the shore, and smell the green fir trees along the way.  I’m in my head way too much of the time anyway, so it is a wonderful relief to feel my body and heart as I experience this thing we call life.
Go play in your fabulous altered worlds, and have a blast while you’re doing it, just please don’t forget about this real world and what an impact your actions have on it.