diamonds in the sky

To express hope by some star, the eagerness of a soul by a sunset radiance. Certainly there is nothing in that of stereoscopic realism, but is it not something that actually exists?

(Vincent Van Gogh)

Working in, and spending a lot of time in the virtual world makes you begin to question things. The virtual consists of things that can't be physically touched - I mean - yes I can touch my computer, and the monitor and the mouse to create this world, but when I'm inside the world I cannot touch and physically feel with my hands the coldness of the pond I've made, or the bricks on the wall I've built. I can't taste the coffee my avatar is drinking, I don't get drunk if Micala has a few too many sips of her virtual merlot or chardonnay.

And yet, in the evenings, when I'm sitting on the dock by the pond, watching that virtual sun set on the grid, I DO feel peaceful, I do feel relaxed. I do have a sort of serenity that washes over me from experiencing what may not be 'real'.

Maybe it's back to the whole 'if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound' way of thinking. Maybe all art is about that, in its essence. If I paint an amazingly fantabulous picture, and yet it never makes anyone 'feel'.. what's the point. Does it exist at all?

The work I do in Second Life is more than just making a picture, or taking a photo or 'building' something with rudimentary tools. It's about creating an atmosphere, a space, that makes people *feel* a certain way.

Maybe the virtual is a space where things actually can be physically felt... just not by your hands.