An Island of Sanity

   2012/07/08  19 Comments on An Island of Sanity  Posted in SL
Share: TwitterFacebookPinterestLinkedin

In the not too distant past, I was watching some old Vanessa Redgrave movies. It all started with some of her films on The Movie Channel, but I went exploring and found my way to a film called Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment, a film I’d seen in the very distant past. The reason I liked the film is, the main character Morgan (David Warner) was living in the realm of the extraordinary which included dressing in gorilla costumes and imagining himself to be gorilla.

Morgan had been recently divorced from his classy wife, Leonie (Vanessa Redgrave), and was divorced from day-to-day reality and living in a station wagon outside Leonie’s house in London. It was his life in the auto that brought him to the attention of a local constable. The constable approached the vehicle one morning where he discovered Morgan going through his morning routine. The constable asked sternly, “What is this?” and after a pregnant pause, Morgan replied, “This is an island of sanity…” Anyway, that phrase has been used a lot by all kinds of writers and marketeers, but this is where it took on meaning for me.

There are those who say Second Life is dead. Every day they seem to seek and find more evidence that it is dead, in decline or suspended animation (to be cute about it). But there’s this, Second Life isn’t a game in any traditional sense but a virtual world in the truest sense. And the reason I bring this up is I’ve come to realize that when your mind needs a safe place to roam free, as with Morgan, you can create this place and in a sense create your own island of sanity. I think that may be part of Second Life’s secret sauce.

I’m not ready to begin living my life in gorilla costumes,
but I certainly understand the need for a place
to let the spirit to run free, an island of sanity.
Author: Yordie Sands
I'm just a girl with an overactive imagination. I write about my life as an avatar in Second Life, where I star as the heroine of a virtual fantasy life. In my second life I'm an adventurer, photographer, blogger, exotic dancer, geisha and socialite. Occasionally I find myself swept away in romance.
Tagged

19 thoughts on “An Island of Sanity”

  1. Like “Representation and Abstraction,” another powerful axis I find in Art, Life & Culture is “Realism and Romanticism.”

    And like R&A, R&R isn’t a one-dimensional binary, but a rich space that can be inhabited in many ways. Still, I do find it to be a sort of pendulum: if we’re too obsessed with our romantic fantasies, someone will scream “Wake up! People are starving! People are dying out there!” Yet if we’re hopelessly mired in the dreck of reality, we might truly need a bit of time with a romantic perspective.

    One of the peak moments for me for Realism was that remarkable 19th century moment when Charles Baudelaire complained that French art was drowning in romantic fantasy and challenged artists to depict contemporary life as real people actually lived it, and then history’s most courageous 19-year-old…

    —– hahaha, till the Web2.0 age when SO MANY 13-year-olds have changed the world!
    (cf. Next: the Future Just Happened by MIchael Lewis)
    not to mention our own, amazing 15-year-old Hanna Lee —–

    … 19-year-old Vicky Meurent stepped up and did performance works (some call it “Modeling for Manet”) that French painting hadn’t really experienced before.

    At the other extreme of the pendulum’s swing, probably my single favorite plea for romanticism, is Dale Wasserman’s “Man of La Mancha” – a play about Cervantes and his famous character

    At the end of Man of La Mancha, Dale Wasserman’s Cervantes character says,

    I’ve been a soldier and a slave. I’ve seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I’ve held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning “Why?” I don’t think they were wondering why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams – -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all – -to see life as it is and not as it should be.

    Reply

  2. There’s no question in my mind there’s a place for an active life, but as you say, “.. if we’re hopelessly mired in the dreck of reality, we might truly need a bit of time with a romantic perspective.”

    i don’t really know any people who just head into SL to sit, other than those who wouldn’t be doing the same thing IRL. In a sense, SL is a lot more active than a lot of people would suspect when you consider their alternatives (sitting in front of a television, so forth).

    For some this second life can change behavior in a very positive way, not to mention open them to abilities they might not have recognized.

    I’m in one of those mired phases right now. but soon i know that pendulum will swing and hurl me from my island into adventure and romance (even a wild speedboat ride.. heh).

    Reply

    1. Interesting point! I’ve consumed my fair share of television in the past, but in the online age, I don’t even have a TV set. (hence I have to hear about Marina Abramovic documentaries on HBO from Kathleen)

      I always knew TV was a vast wasteland, but now that online content and interactivity is so much richer, TV just seems even more pointless. All the commercials I have to watch on YouTube and elsewhere are understandable in that “somebody’s gotta pay for all this,” yet it kills me as I see the web become more and more like oldschool television.

      Reply

      1. I agree with you on TV, although I still have one mostly for CNBC business channel which runs all day. And yeah, I’ve noticed that tendency for the web to become like television.

        I’m on the verge of a decision to cancel DirectTv. i’ll use CNN live for news feed and Netflix for movies (btw, they get some great chinese and japanese films!). I wondering what i’ll do if my internet goes down tho. I rely on my newsfeeds.

        Reply

    1. Hiya Anthony… I think you’d find Second Life fascinating. There’s a bit of a learning curve on the software, but once you get used to navigating around I’m sure you’ll find your favorite interests are all there. Its not like any game you’ve ever played, it’s a social environment and I think it is worth a shot. See you in EA! … Yordie

      Reply

    2. Hey Anthony, thanks for dropping by!
      Keep us posted on your adventures.
      And, of course you should try SL, just so Yordie can give you a ride in her speedboat! 🙂

      Reply

          1. Wow… didn’t realize you were already and SL sailor. I found SL sailing to be too much work, so i opted for powerboats. Anyway, I’m going to head inworld a little later to see how badly that HAVOC upgrade effects boating and sim crossings.

            Reply

  4. SL. A place of incredible acceptance I’ve found. I really only dabble in it for professional development, but also to indulge my need to explore, discover, and interact. These are activities that seem to be scrutinized in RL to the point of being squelched entirely. Sad. Grateful for a place where curiosity is seen as a positive attribute and not cause for suspicion or feeling like every step is a violation of someone else’s rights or patents.

    Reply
  5. Pingback: •ρ• Sour Notes « Reflections on Reality
    1. Pingback: Meet The Virtual Salon | I Rez Therefore I Am

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.