Sha's Thoughts: Josh on His Own

By Becky Shamen

 This is the new member of my avatar family. His name is Joshua Xavier, but it didn't start out that way. He began as an alternative costume for Sha, after hearing from males that it was so much easier for females in Second Life. Like wearing a furry, she would wear him and go about experiencing the flip side. The problem was, the disguise had one flaw, in that, even when attempting a made up name tag, people could still see the real name of Becky. To get around this, a second account was opened, using the gender-free name, Bach Shamen.. Bach made a great start as a man and even attracted some girl friends, As Sha's younger brother, he lacked a mission of his own and was caught up in fulfilling the dreams of other males, making money and finding love. After proving that SL men could make money and date pretty women, he returned to the nest, so to speak, by becoming Sha's sister, almost a twin, save a darker shade of hair. For a while, they worked at the same club, on alternate nights. Since the computer could only handle one at a time and there was little difference between them, Bach soon fell out of use.

When Sha became a news reporter and adopting characters to fit the sims  and lifestyles of the places being explored, it began to make sense that some stories are best told from a female perspective, while others from the male's. Sha's male avatar was dusted off and used in two stories, as a narrator for topics that required no exploration to write and were suited for a more authoritative speaker. By using trick photography, the two could even seem to be two separate people. He was given the name Joshua Xavier, to give maximum polarity from his progenitor.

When a new account was opened, Sha donated L$3000, to let him shop for macho clothing, like airship captain, knight in shining armor, and leather jackets. Perhaps there will even be a motorcycle in his future. As yet, there is no sharp line between what stories will be taken by Sha and Josh, but in general he will gravitate to the science/philosophy, mental end of the spectrum, while Sha shops the feelings, desires, heart side of the street. It will be an educational experience for their player/writer (moi), developing the flip sides of the coin.

Becky "Sha" Shamen

Sha's Thoughts: Ancient Furries

By Becky Shamen

In my exploration of the sims in Second Life, there have been a few which, I was sorry to discover, do not allow furries. This reporter has as many furry friends as humans and can often be found in the form of a rabbit, fox, raccoon or bat herself. As such, I join my friends in protesting such attitudes, that prohibit anthropomorphic critters from visiting these places. One cannot hope to change attitudes, without understanding the thinking behind them. It is perfectly acceptable for groups and sim owners to make their lands accurate, as regards speech, clothing and inhabitants that fit the theme being enacted there, but they sometimes, conveniently, forget to ask key questions. Are furries entirely make believe? Did they only come into existance, begining with Mickey Mouse? Do they have no ancient history? Are there no furries in real life? It might be said that ignorance is bliss, but it is equally important to remember that, those that do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Let us join Mr. Peabody (a furry), in his wayback machine and see if we can find answers to these questions. We will be looking into some mythology, but keep in mind, myths are not invented. There is always an element of truth in them.

Sentient life

Some of you may be confused by what I have to say next. Most of you have been told of only two theories of creation: Darwin and the Christian Bible. Imagine if you will another theory. Esoteric literature reveals that most planets serve the purpose of evolving sentient human beings. Before the humans come on the scene, there is a period when the sentient life forms are reptilian. The most highly evolved beings on earth are known as Kumaras. The related word, Makara, means "Dragon." Masters of ancient wisdom are called Dragons. If you want to read more, I recommend the works of Rudolf Steiner and H.P. Blavatsky.

In Genesis, we read that humans, represented by Adam and Eve, did not have knowledge of right and wrong and self-consciousness, until they ate the fruit, offered to them by a walking, talking serpent, a dragon. Amazing! We found the first, non-human, sentient being in Judeo-Christian history, within the first few pages of the Bible. To keep it simple, we will refer to all non-human, anthropomorphic animals, as "furries," from here on.

Can we go back farther and find other furries in history? Yes, indeed. Before the Jews were united in their religion and culture, they lived in Egypt. The Egyptian pantheon had many furry gods, including; Ra, Anubis, Seth, Khnum, Horus, Thoth and Sekhmet.

The ancient Hindus also had furry gods, including Hanuman (monkey) and Ganesha (elephant). In fact, if you study your ancient history, nearly all people on earth, at one time, worshiped furry gods. They can be found in the pantheons of the Greeks, Romans, Mayans, and Aztecs as well.

Keep in mind, before Mickey and Donald made the scene, there was "The Chronicles of Narnia", with it's furry residents and their chief deity, Aslan.

The next time you hear of furries being excluded anywhere in Second Life, you can, armed with the truth, show that they should be shown respect, because they were here first.

Becky "Sha" Shamen

[credits: The art was collected from the internet, the first is based on an illustration by "Flash". The second by unknown artist]

 *Editor's Note* Perri Prinz recommended the essay "Pervasive Anthropomorphic Culture" if one wants to read about the influence of anthropomorphism on human history from ancient times to the present. Plus she has her own "Furry History Project," describing the history of anthropomorphic characters in stories, and how "Furry" as a genre came to be.

Sha's Thoughts: Second Life and ESP

By Becky Shamen

In our article on DNA morphing machines, we talked of a future that allows us to imitate second life, by changing real bodies as easily as we do our avatars. Is this a two way street? Are there some real world abilities that second life needs to learn?

We explore our worlds. using our senses of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Any of these can, with practice, be improved. Alas, in the virtual world of Second Life, we seem to be limited to sight and sound. Are there techniques, we can employ, that will enable us to refine our senses? In the real world, there are additional, higher octaves of our five senses, which are collectively known as the sixth sense, including clairvoyance (seeing) and telepathy (hearing). We all have these abilities, but few learn to use them fully. Our extra-sensory-perceptions tell us things, about others, that we are unable to explain how we know. We use expressions like; He gives off good vibrations, Her smile lights up a room, He was green with envy, so angry I was seeing red. Those that have developed these higher senses, called "seers", explain that we all have energy fields surrounding our bodies, called auras. The etheric aura radiates information about our physical health. The colors in our astral aura reveal our moods and desires. Our thoughts create objects which float about in the aura. By looking at these "thought forms", a seer can tell what things you spend the most time thinking about. Like our basic senses, these higher senses, with practice, can also be improved.

In Second Life, most of the things that others know about us are seen, in the choice of avatars and the words we type in chat. If you have a computer that can handle Voice, you also get to hear how they sound. How is it that, with such limited data, we can, almost instantly, tell that a demon or big bad wolf is someone we would like to be friends with, or that a cute little pony might not be invited to your parties? Does the energy in our auras find it's way through the internet and into our avatars?

In real life, there are two compliments that I often receive. The first one is, I have great legs and, looking in the mirror, I have to agree. The other is, I light up a room, but that's not as easy to see. In Second Life, I buy my avatar's shape and skin in the same stores as others. I find most people I meet to be extremely friendly, helpful and generous and wonder if others, wearing the same shape and skin, get the same attention. I do have one unique feature, that might set me apart. I made a custom texture for my eyeballs, which I have never shared, so am the only one in SL that has them. The eyes are the smallest detail on the avatar and, more often than not, I am dancing on a pole. Unless people are zooming in on my profile picture, my eyes can hardly be the reason for being so popular. I begin to suspect the light, that people sense in real life, may have found it's way into the virtual world.

In Real Life, any senses beyond the standard package of five would be considered to be ESP. On the other hand, in Second life, having only sight and sound to guide us, there is a far greater range for potential ESP. This writer's opinions are but one drop in a vast ocean of players. We must leave it up to our readers to answer these questions for themselves. Does ESP exist in Second Life? Can we touch, taste or smell things there? Out of tens of thousands of players, is some small percentage of them able to see the higher realms? Do avatars have auras? Can we communicate with each other, telepathically, without using our keyboards to chat? If you have answers, contact me and I'll be all ears, especially when I'm in bunneh mode (grin and wink).

Becky "Sha" Shamen