Richard Dawkins Discusses Second Life

Drops this here...

'Tis Sometimes Better to Receive Than Give

Dream Worm Shoulder Pet by Madcow Cosmos

I was brought up in a secular family.

Hitchens and Dawkins were, and still are, discussed far more than, for example, Mohammed and Christ. It is not that anyone in the family is particularly disrespectful of religious figures, not at all – it’s simply that they are not considered important enough to warrant any serious discussion outside of mythological or other academic studies. In our house, Mohammed and Christ are considered in similar vain as, say, Osiris or Mithras. 

As such, I am rarely motivated by religious festivals.

Dali clock & baked beans by Dave Vellhi
Hand drawn sketch  & Xmas tree by Tutsy Navaratha

Yesterday and today I watched a 20min film shot by a close personal friend of his meeting with the Dalai Lama, (or to use the official title ‘His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama of Tibet’).

I found the film to be deeply moving in a strange and quite unexpected way.

'The Creature' by Markus Inkpen
Asphalt & Shovel by Dave Vellhi
'The Watcher' from Tutsy Navarathna 

It seemed to me that the Dalai Lama radiated humanity and warmth, a natural love and empathy for his fellow man which is often spoken about in religious circles, but sadly rarely ever seen in my, admittedly limited, experience.

Today, for possibly the first time, I seriously wondered if there may actually be “Holy Men” on this crazy planet that orbits a rather ordinary and nondescript G-type star.

Stilts by Heb Dexler

My only other exposure to such ideas as “Holy Men” was an in-depth documentary about the Hindu Kumbh Mela pilgrimage held every 12 years on the banks of the Ganges. Although fascinating for many reasons, proof of the authenticity of “Holy Men” was certainly not one of them.

Ground mist/fog from Bazz Soulstar

So did my friend’s film of his meeting with the Dalia Lama cause me a personal epiphany of sorts? No, I don’t think so. But it was nevertheless emotionally beautiful - causing bodily streamings from the crown of my head to the base of my spine, as mentioned in traditional yogic texts describing the ‘Chakras’.

Violin from Lar Jun

I am at home from University for Christmas, staying with my parents. The best thing about being home for Christmas? Central heating. Oh, and on-demand hot water. Seriously.

We have a Xmas Tree in the corner of the living room. It is really pretty with delicate blue lights playing against the silver tinsel. But there is neither star nor an angel or any other symbolism remotely religious on it.

Latrine by Dave Vellhi
Shopping Trolley by Bryn Oh

I am sitting here wondering if that is a deliberate policy of my parents. If so, how much influence has it had on my professed atheism, if any?

On Christmas Day, while my mum and I cook dinner, dad and my brother will go to the local pub for a few pints.

Ciggy by Squonk Levenque

We exchange gifts on Christmas morning and that is the subject of this blog-post. Or rather, *receiving* gifts is the subject matter.

This last year I have been blessed to have been given some extraordinary special gifts in Second Life from some extraordinarily talented people.

Comic book speech bubbles by BobE Schism

Some of these gifts, like Madcow Cosmo’s ‘Dream Worm’ shoulder pet or Lucia Genesis’s beautiful outfits are free to anyone who visits their sims.

Others, like Byrn Oh’s shopping trolley or BobE Schism’s comic-book speech bubbles are props they have used their in installations or films and have generously given me a copy of.

TV slideshow by Lollie Razor
Portrait by Jinx Jiersen

Other gifts have been made especially for me - like the pile of asphalt, baked bin tin, latrine, Dali clock and lots of other things by Dave Vellhi. Or the hand drawn RL sketch from Tutsy Navarathna.

Shopping trolley by Bryn Oh

Squonk Levenque and Miuccia Klarr of Kamikaze generously gifted me items from their store; Lisa, owner of Warm Animations, overwhelmed me by giving me a copy of her whole store’s stock after noticing one of her animations being used in ‘Rapture’.

Cello from Lar Jun
'The Watcher' from Tutsy Navarathna
Ciggy by Squonk Levenque

Other gifts have been purchased for me – Lar Jun brought me my violin and cello, for example; Tutsy ‘The Watcher’.

I have been extraordinarily lucky.

Not only to have received the gifts themselves, although that as well of course, but to have found myself in the right place at the right time.

2012 Machinima calendar by Glasz Decuir

In almost all cases, I could not make these gifts as well as the Creators have. And, even if I could, they would not have the same meaning to me or be as special as they are.

These gifts make my Second Life special and meaningful to me.

I am incredibly grateful.

Rocking chair by Dave Vellhi

The biggest single gift is that Debbie Trilling and Adec Alexandra so generously let me live on and share their beautiful island. It is such a privilege that I hardly know where to start. As I student, I could never afford to live on a sim like this with no prim policing forced upon me.

Debbie & Adec

I love my corner of the Metaverse; I love my existence in the Metaverse.

I am so, so thankful to all the people who have helped me. I wish I could return more than just my thanks and my love. But I, being poor, have only my dreams…and you are helping me realise them.

The gifts that people have given me are special. They help me feel good about myself, my work and my life.

And, because of that, ‘tis sometimes better to receive than give.

Happy Christmas to you all, regardless of your beliefs, religion, timezone, skin colour, mental health records or any of the rest!

Pixie xx

In Paradisum - The World's End Garden

Its the end of the world as we know it

And I feel fine!

                                                                                      - R.E.M, 2003

Today I hope to write a blog-post which you'll find interesting and intriguing enough to actually go visit yourself  - The World's End Garden on the Dernier Lamento region of Second Life (SL).

However, after some thought, I have decided not to reveal all the secrets I found on this region nor include all the pictures I took. Some things are best left for you to discover for yourself!

(click images to enlarge)

Normally at this point I would introduce the Creator but for the time being we will forego this formality and instead talk only about the region.

The reason for this is because only by first understanding something of the nature of The World's End Garden can we even have a chance of appreciating the seeming paradoxes and contradictions of the Creator and the remarkable achievement that results.

The World's End Garden is an intriguing story - a detective story, perhaps. Or maybe a horror.

The only clues we have to decipher the story are those which we can find in the Garden; the only verdict is that we ourselves decide upon.

On arrival on the region you are invited to have your Windlight settings changed to 'AvatarOpt'. This is a good choice for a nice compromise between making the prims look good and to flatter the avatar.

However, on my screen at least, the default AvatarOpt settings have the disadvantage of making patches of "glow" look almost nuclear at a distance.

I found that by lowering the sun glow size, the sun glow focus and the haze density a touch that this "nuclear glow" effect was largely negated.

On the surface of things, the layout of the Garden is very similar to the HuMaNoiD region which we explored and blogged only last month.

Both are whole region installations which have small isolated islands separated by shallow ankle-height sea.

However, whereas on HuMaNoiD it appears that the islands are somewhat ad-hoc and only vaguely themed, at the World's End Garden the theme is consistent and unswerving - albeit not easily and immediately apparent.

In amongst the Windlight created light pinks and tranquil textured pastel colours, we hear the delicate sounds of bird song, the harpiscord and harp.

But occasionally, unexpectedly...you hear a thumping heartbeat, the ringing of a nearby church bell.....

For whom does it toll?

And soon enough you will discover the coffin.

"In Paradisium" translates from Latin to English as "Into Paradise". The phrase is specifically used to describe the part of a Requiem Mass of the Western Christian Church where the choir sings as the body is carried from the church.

To get a better sense of the feel of the World's End Garden - after the discovery of the coffin - press <Play> on this video and simply have the music playing quietly in the background while you continue to read this blog-post.

The suspicion that what you believed was just another lazy Sunday afternoon on a tranquil pastoral sim is actually not a true and faithful representation of the facts increases further when you notice the empty chair looking outwards over the ocean.


The nearby caged miner's canary is still breathing, yes, but is unmoving, paralysed and unfed.

That disconcerting feeling is similarly provoked when you notice the perfectly serviceable row boat standing ready, complete with oar.


Could this be Charon's ferry across the Styx to Hades?

A ghostly ephemeral-white grand piano sits in a bed of English roses. Candles blow in the wind.


We finally become aware of a feeling of grief, of loss. The feeling is tangible and emanates from the Creators sensitivity with prims, with textures and with their precise placement.

This is not some sort of vague generalised sense of grief and loss


No, this is specific; it is unambiguous and explicit...

...it is a widow's grief.

Her loss was sudden. And recent. Possibly violent. 

But her grieving process can only properly begin after the funeral has ended.

The Christian symbolism and iconography on this sim is handled with great delicacy, respect and a sense of the sacred.

For myself personally, I have little time for any religious doctrine or its watered-down cousin, "spirituality".


The wisdom of Feynman is far more meaningful to me than the Wisdom Of Solomon; Dawkins more intelligent than any Deacon; Hitchens more honest than Hiram.


My position is firmly in the atheist camp rather than the agnostic or religious.

But none of that means I am so crass as to not appreciate the beauty, the immersion and the dedication that many artists have since time immemorial been motivated to create due to a religious impulse.

It is clear to me that this space is at least as equally profound and sacred as any other religious space I have yet encountered in SL.

Only the Monastery of St. Michael the Arc at Taliesin Shores (sadly now gone, I believe) even comes close in my experience.

SuicideGirl Evermore & I visited many churches when we were researching 'Personal Jesus' but for me only a small handful could I consider to have a genuinely sacred or profound feel about them.

However, in my opinion, the Creator of the World's End Garden has done precisely that - created a space with a genuinely sacred and profound atmosphere.

And because of that, the widow can grieve...

By joining the World's End Garden group on the sim, you can get as free gifts all of the outfits that you see me wearing in the pictures on this blog-post.

All of them were free, all totally appropriate to the theme of the region.

And it occurs to me just as I near the end of this blog-post that coincidentally all this is very reminiscent of Serenity and Arwen Juneberry's gothic adult machinima, The Widow.  These outfits would have worked well there too, at least in the clothed scenes!

There is only one thing remaining for this blog-post - to reveal the name of the Creator of these lovely clothes, these great prims and textures, this authentic religious space. Her name is Lucia Genesis and she is a Japanese Bloodline Vampire.

I have never met Lucia nor know anything about her other than what is in her profile and her World's End Garden blog.

Regardless - and seemingly against all odds - Lucia has created something really quite remarkable and I urge you to experience it for yourself.

Pixie xxx