THE AVATAR
by Nik List
ABSTRACT – ‘You are not a person experiencing the universe. You are the universe experiencing a person.’ What a strange thing to say 🤔. Let’s try to unpack that.
Life’s just a game. It’s just play. A beautiful set of the unfolding of law.
When you play monopoly, you don’t think you’re the iron or the thimble.
But when you play life, you think you’re the bodies. It’s strange.
1 – THE AVATAR
Audiences experience stories vicariously through characters. Films — but also books, series, video games — these mediums allow us to temporarily inhabit another’s body (the story’s protagonist) and see the world through his/her eyes. These characters serve as portals, avatars, enabling us to enter the story and experience the fictional world.
This identification with fictional characters is a game we play with ourselves. We attribute our sense of self to an avatar. Why? In order to live a genuine experience that will seem real to the mind, and enjoy all the accompanying emotions. When the dream ends, the mind leaves the avatar and returns into our physical body.
Here’s the question.
Could we consider our physical bodies as avatars in the physical world?
Can we experience this world in the same way we experience stories?
If these physical bodies were avatars, who would be the audience experiencing them?
2 – THE AVATAR’S BODY
Numerous metaphors have been used to describe the physical world. In Plato’s cave allegory, deluded prisoners in the dark interpret the shadows on the wall as being real. In Hinduism, Lila refers to a game played by the gods, and Buddhism tells us that the world is illusion. Shakespeare, ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’. The Matrix transposes Plato’s cave allegory into a computer simulation.
All of these stories and traditions have in common the tenet that behind the physical world lies some other reality.
Our physical bodies would therefore be avatars of something else.
Avatar bodies are made up of the same substance as their environment. Video game avatars consist of pixels and algorithms. Claymation characters are made of clay. The human avatar is no different. It’s made of physical matter and follows the same laws as all physical forms. It decays and eventually turns to dust.
The question is as old as humanity: are we more than this mortal flesh?
In response to tolls criticizing her aged appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Carrie Fisher quipped ‘My body hasn’t aged as well as I have’.
‘… as well as I have.’
Which ‘I’ was she referring to?
3 – THE AVATAR’S MIND
The human avatar is a package deal. The physical body comes with a mind — a personality, thoughts, desires, opinions, and ego. This mind provides a perceptual lens through which we perceive, categorize, and process the physical world.
Are we stuck with this mind?
Stories enable us to ‘get into the mind’ of a fictional character and ‘see the world through his/her eyes.’
Stepping out of the mind is thus possible.
Meditation and mindfulness techniques have popularized the idea that thoughts and emotions can be witnessed. Instead of believing every passing thought and experiencing every emotion full blast, we can step back internally. We can watch passing thoughts like clouds drifting in the sky.
Let’s now apply the Carrie Fisher reasoning to the mind.
If there is an ‘I’ that can witness thoughts, that ‘I’ is not the mind. Who is that witness watching the mental works?
When a devotee summoned him with the same question, Who am I?, the sage Ramana Maharshi answered ‘Who is asking the question?’.
4 – THE BALANCE
Ram Dass compares life to a monopoly game. Have you ever played monopoly with a child? Some players become totally engrossed in the stakes — the little plastic figures on the table suddenly become a matter of life and death. These players lose sight of the fun of monopoly — experiencing all the emotions, but enjoying those emotions as a game.
The same goes for daily life in the physical world.
When you enter a video game or strap on a VR headset, the first question is ‘What can I do in this environment?’. What can you do with a physical body?
BODY — we can climb stairs, dance in clubs, swim in the ocean, and taste cheesecake. The physical avatar enables us to experience all the delights of this physical world through the senses.
MIND — The mind creates the other part of the avatar’s experience. What emotion is your avatar struggling with? Frustration? Sadness? Some films make us sad, and yet we enjoy watching them. Can you enjoy your avatar’s sadness in the same way? Can you step back and watch that emotion gradually evaporate?
PLAYING LIFE
Stories teach us how to lead our lives. The next time you find yourself criticizing your physical appearance, having a negative thought, or experiencing a strong emotion, step back and ask yourself ‘Who is experiencing this?’ Take a moment to step out of the narrative. Witness the avatar’s experience.
Life is lived, games are played, films are watched. Instead of living life, try playing it. Try witnessing it. Do this for a few days and see if the game is more enjoyable from that perspective.