about My work revolves around the concept of nothingness, which is described more below. Its political implications are discussed in the blogs on nothingness, using fiction to undo the constructs of reality, and post(human-animal). In Second Life 2.0 the ideas below are applied to reimagine Second Life. Nothingness of meaning  Nothingness is similar to the Real (Lacan). The Real is different from 'reality' in that the Real is pre-imaginary, pre-symbolic. It is outside representation; it cannot be represented. Nothingness is different from the Real in the sense that the Real is associated with trauma: the concepts one constructs (in the symbolic and imaginary order) to make oneself at home and secure in the world are not reality, thus they sometimes fall apart. Nothingness, on the other hand, is the place to which one moves beyond this traumatic encounter with the Real. Nothingness is associated with the desire to see the way things really are, thus seeking clarity not security, and welcoming uncertainty and unpredictability (it is not nihilistic) as a means to undo one's constructs and to access the Real. The experience of nothingness, after one gains access to the Real, is post-symbolic, post-imaginary and non-dual ('form is emptiness'). Nothingness of self/subject  The self/subject is situated inside the construction of meaning (in the symbolic and imaginary order), constructed by thoughts. Deconstructing the self/subject shows that there has never been any inherently existing self/subject that is real. One ascribes some form of inherent existence onto the flow of one's experience. But that sense of self/subject is a mental construction struggling against its own non-existence, its nothingness. Non ego-based praxis  Robert Hattam writes that the problems of self-based politics come from this premise: if one has enough bread and justice, one will not want more — of status, wealth, security, newness. Having achieved equality, one will not seek superiority. Being wronged, one will not seek revenge. Having enough, one will be able to tell the difference between need and want and not try to construct one's identity through consumption or status. Consumption: Within an individualistic materialist view of society, one's wants know no limits. Millions of people are wealthier than in the past, yet nine-tenths of consumption is a self-confirming satisfying of an endless round of newly created desires. Capitalistic society makes a public virtue of exploitation and self-centeredness. Violence: Radical political activity is characterized by the oppression-anger-revolution chain: observing oppression, getting angry at oppression, the anger then forms the basis for constructive action in defense of the oppressed. This is the model for political action in the labor movement, feminism, civil rights, anti-racism struggles, gay and lesbian liberation, and the environmental movement. Such a position can culminate in a justification of violent struggle (such as Fanon's). The self cannot resolve its own lack because the self is a manifestation of that lack. Deconstructing the self/subjectivity in an existentialist sense leads to the realization that there is no lack because there has never been any inherently-existing/essentialized self in the first place. If the self stops trying to realize itself as a thing, then its sense of lack will go away. Paraphrasing Aung San Suu Kyi's speech on freedom from fear: It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Most Burmese are familiar with the four kinds of corruption: corruption in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves, wrong action to spite those against whom one bears ill will, aberration due to ignorance, but perhaps the worst of the four is fear, for not only does fear stifle and slowly destroy all sense of integrity and justice, it often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption. ______________ Yvonne Chu | About