Thursday, August 31, 2006
"There exists no Individual"
I came across a Buddhist temple above the Ivory Tower today. While Freya was meditating I did some philosophical thinking regarding Second Life and Buddhism.
Buddha taught ‘anatta’, or the No Self view (essentially, he was a Bundle Theorist). A quote from a Buddhist text explains: "Buddha has spoken thus: 'O Brethren, actions do exist, and also their consequences, but the person that acts does not. There is no one to cast away this set of elements, and no one to assume a new set of them. There exists no Individual, it is only a conventional name given to a set of elements." So, "I" do not really exist; "I" am only comprised of various elements. Freya, then, is one of these elements that make up what we like to call an "individual."
The note card in the SL Buddhist temple stated "Avatars could be as real a phenomenon of one's mind as anything else." True, I suppose. And I assume (though virtual space must work differently from real space) my nonphysical mind could be embodied in my avatar (if you believe in Dualism). So what kind of element is Freya in the bundle that makes up my "self"? Well, Freya isn’t conscious...yet how do we truly know that we are conscious...
I really haven’t come to any conclusions here...or even a conclusion about what I’m trying to conclude about. But I do know Buddhism encompasses avatars as an element of one’s "self", and I also know that a real philosopher should look into the connections between various theories of "self" and SL, because I’m certainly not doing it justice.
Buddha taught ‘anatta’, or the No Self view (essentially, he was a Bundle Theorist). A quote from a Buddhist text explains: "Buddha has spoken thus: 'O Brethren, actions do exist, and also their consequences, but the person that acts does not. There is no one to cast away this set of elements, and no one to assume a new set of them. There exists no Individual, it is only a conventional name given to a set of elements." So, "I" do not really exist; "I" am only comprised of various elements. Freya, then, is one of these elements that make up what we like to call an "individual."
The note card in the SL Buddhist temple stated "Avatars could be as real a phenomenon of one's mind as anything else." True, I suppose. And I assume (though virtual space must work differently from real space) my nonphysical mind could be embodied in my avatar (if you believe in Dualism). So what kind of element is Freya in the bundle that makes up my "self"? Well, Freya isn’t conscious...yet how do we truly know that we are conscious...
I really haven’t come to any conclusions here...or even a conclusion about what I’m trying to conclude about. But I do know Buddhism encompasses avatars as an element of one’s "self", and I also know that a real philosopher should look into the connections between various theories of "self" and SL, because I’m certainly not doing it justice.
// posted by Kate @ 6:46 PM 
