Thursday, March 29, 2007

Ode to Joy

A special note from Alphonsus’s animator, to the animators of the people he loves in Second Life.

“If only happiness could be dispensed with a few well spoken words--a kind of magic spell that, when intoned, would forever change the wiring of our minds that now finds comfort in darkness. I’ve never found the words, not for myself, and not for anyone else. And, as Alphonsus says in his tagline, I, too, experience the most pain when I am unable to relieve the pain of another. When others suffer, I suffer.

“All I have to offer to comfort the people I love here are words, but then, words are not just words. What we say is greater than the sum of the words contained in our sentences. The words we say to ourselves determine our self-image, and words are the only way to touch the soul of another person through this wondrous medium that carries the inelegant name, ‘blog.’

“So, here are the words I offer. Take from them what you can.

“I ask only that you remember the true wonder that is our lives in this, our real world. Remember the joy of the warmth of the sun on your skin on a quiet beach. Remember the smell of fresh baked bread, or the undiluted pleasure of a simple hug from someone you care about, be it a family member, a friend, or a virtual friend. Remember the majesty contained in a simple cloud as it passes over us in the sky, blown by the breeze into structures of unimaginable complexity. Remember the man on the moon. Remember and envision the colors of a setting of the sun. Remember the tenderness of a simple touch, and the glorious taste of your favorite pizza. And most particularly remember the joy felt when you know beyond doubt that you have helped another person in need, however fleeting.

“These are but an infinitesimally small sample of the simple beauty of creation, a creation in which we, too, are a part. These simple joys are genuine; woven inexorably into the fabric of reality. We have felt them in the past. They will be available to us again in the future. They are out there now, at this moment, being enjoyed by some other conscience entity on this little planet. And how different is this other, non-hypothetical person from us? We are grown from the same stuff; the genetic differences between us are so minute that they can almost be discounted all together.

“Can we remember these joys in ourselves, joys experienced by a past version of who we are now? Or, baring that, can we imagine the joy in another? As we do, we should close our eyes, breath slowly, and smile. Even if the smile is forced, it can still force our brains the wired themselves a little differently.

“There is nothing about us that is ugly or wrong in the eyes of the universe. We are wisps of frozen gases, each a complex and beautiful side effect of reality. We may be as a particle of moisture in the above described cloud; tiny in itself, but each particle necessary to the cloud’s overall beauty. In this, each of us is special. In this, each of us is important. And, when we fall from the sky into black puddles of emotion (as we always do), remember that the cycle will not keep us there. Remember that we can rise again into the clouds, or perhaps be used as a drink for a flower or a butterfly. We never leave the cycle of beauty even when down, but remember that we will rise again to a place more to our liking, if we only wait.

“I wish I could offer more than words. I don’t know how to reach in and caress and heal the soul of another. This is the best I can do.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my - you figured it out, and did so beautifully.

Thank you for sharing that, and for bringing me tears of joy.

Catherine Moody said...

PIZZA!

Aww Alphonsus, thank you for such a lovely piece of writing.

Anonymous said...

That is so beautifull.
I need to read it thousand times then read it hundred thousands times more because it's so inspiringly beautiful.