The Real Deal!!!

The bookclub I belong to is very small.   9 or so members.  I really enjoy it as I find the women interesting and I admire their passion for reading.  I too love to read but we don't read the same type of books.  The bookclub exposes me to a variety of great books that I would never think to choose on my own.  Truth be told, I've been fudging by not reading the books, many times.  Usually I buy the books but they never seem to quite get read.  I love the company and love to hear their take on what they read!  I did lead one discussion and really had fun doing so.  So I decided to be more engaged and determined to not only buy the book but read it.  I quickly read The Help in preparation for the movie that we may go see as a group.  Then I started on Seabiscuit.  To me it's a labor intensive book.  The print is so small.  I read forever and was only on page 37!!  Yikes!! there are 339 pages plus lots of notes.  Except for Two Old Women, I don't think I've ever recommended a book to read. 

Desiring to turn a new page, be more involved as a reader/contributor, I thought I'd keep an eye open for some books that might be appropriate as suggested reading.  My email inbox today had a note....  from Oprah's Bookclub.  The subject was....Books That Will Lift Your Spirits.  What a time to show up!  so I clicked on it and my goodness sakes.....there were more books than I'd read it a lifetime.  I was clicking and looking and reading synopsis of the the suggestions and then I noticed IT.  Over to the right was an ad for Life 2.0 to be broadcast on OWN.  Here is the promo text....

Life 2.0 follows a group of people whose lives are dramatically transformed by the virtual world Second Life. They enter a new reality, whose inhabitants assume alternate personas in the form of avatars - digital alter egos that can be sculpted and manipulated to the heart’s desire. The film is an intimate, character-based drama about people who look to a virtual world in search of something they are missing in their real lives.

I was stunned with what I read!  Avatars!  Oprah promoting Avatars??!  Oprah who prides herself on helping everyone maximize their potential!?  Oprah, who shares all that she knows- to help mankind live a better, fuller, richer, fulfilling life?  Embracing Avatar-ism??!!  Surely not!  Impossible to fathom!

My mind flashed back to .....

Things as They Really Are

By Elder David A. Bednar

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

(From a Church Educational System fireside address delivered at Brigham Young University–Idaho on May 3, 2009.   In June of 2010 it was printed in the Ensign.)

That article had stunned me when I first read it.  I thought the name of the movie Avatar was just some made up name.  I had no idea that it was an actual word.  I had become aware of how addicting x-box, the game was, and the havoc it could cause with an individual and fan out into the household and other family members.  But Avatar's?  a new thing to me.

Elder Bednar does not mince words.  He speaks clearly and covers all bases as you'd expect an Apostle to do as he declares a clear voice of warning.  Today I remembered this paragraph from that talk that mentions those words- Second Life.  I thought it was something he'd coined.  I had no idea that Second Life exists out there in the atmosphere of cyber space.  here are 2 paragraphs from the most powerful talk I've ever read about perils of the Internet.

1- "I raise an apostolic voice of warning about the potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, and constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences upon our souls. The concerns I raise are not new; they apply equally to other types of media, such as television, movies, and music. But in a cyber world, these challenges are more pervasive and intense. I plead with you to beware of the sense-dulling and spiritually destructive influence of cyberspace technologies that are used to produce high fidelity and that promote degrading and evil purposes."

2- "Let me provide another example of disconnecting gradually and physically from things as they really are. Today a person can enter into a virtual world, such as Second Life, and assume a new identity. An individual can create an avatar, or a cyberspace persona, that conforms to his or her own appearance and behavior. Or a person can concoct a counterfeit identity that does not correlate in any way to things as they really are. However closely the assumed new identity approximates the individual, such behavior is the essence of things as they really are not. Earlier I defined the fidelity of a simulation or model. I now emphasize the importance of personal fidelity—the correspondence between an actual person and an assumed, cyberspace identity....."

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Take some time and read this amazing talk.  Prophets seem to always give us a heads up ahead of time!  Noah warned the people in advance.  Elder Bednar (and Elder Packer is also quoted in this talk) have sent this clear warning message and it's been out there since May 2009.  Two full years!  We better get a handle on this Avatar activity and make sure we understand the danger, the lethal danger of Second Life and realize this is soul destructive, family destroying, marriage-ending in results.

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Here are 2 comments found in the article I read in the Oprah promo of the new show.  Two Second Life Avatar addicts.

1- I am a person that is always on Second Life but I do know how to have a real life to. I was once into secondlife so much that I almost forgot about my real life. It takes motivation for yourself to get off of the computer and get out and do something. If you or a loved one is addicted to SL or just the computer in general, try to help them and do things with them. If that means just taking a walk out in the neighborhood then do that. That is the only way that you can help people in an addiction such as this one. It will take time for them to realize that they have a real life but don't force them and tell them to do this and do that. You have to be with them and help them. With a computer addiction such as this one, it is hard to get away.It brings comfort to people. What they need to know is that they have friends and family that can show them how much better their real life is compared to their second life. If you have to go to the extreme, then do that, just help that person, don't separate yourself from that person.

2-Second life has ruined my real life. My wife became addicted and her SL (Second Life) has become more important than her RL (Real Life). We separated after just 15 months of marriage. She started out innocently enough in the SL World, But then began staying up until 1am - 2am on days when she had to get up at 6:30am to go to work at her RL job. On weekends, she would sometimes stay up until 5am - 6am, then sleep most of the day.She has left family functions early, and she has taken 1/2 days off at her real job in order to work her SL job as a club hostess. She has even contemplated having people she has met there (one is a convicted sex offender in real life) move in with her in real life as a "roommate".Every time I stop by to visit her unannounced, she is on the computer, in Second Life. This has been going on for about 18 months, and I have finally asked for a divorce.

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I believe in Prophets and their counsel is not to be taken lightly. Ever.