Woohoo... to all this feedback I got from you. Well, first of all, I'm sorry to have not responded earlier, but I had a little cold, plus now that the summer holidays are about to begin all of our teachers decided to put us through exams, which means: no time for my "soul feeding" discussion here. Second of all, I expected to get a negative reaction to my pessimistic view on the virtual reality, - which I'm making use of now, btw. - in the first place. I would be surprised to find someone who was at least a bit sceptical towards the internet. I mean, hey, people who use internet do it out of their own free will, so I guess they like using it. So I expected this, and yes, I agree with you that virtual reality also has positive aspects (like the fact that the blind, the deaf and the handicaped can communicate with the world - like you, Jim, mentioned and other issues you've enumerated), but if you assume that everything has positive as well as negative aspects than you have to admit that this is also the case with virtual reality. And I merely pointed out the negative aspects because at that point in time I felt that it was important for me to talk about them.

Plus, I think I'm a very, very sceptical person, so this also adds up to my view on virtual reality - which is a relatively new phenomenon to this world and we don't know how it will influence our lives in the long run, yet.

And btw, in my first post on this topic I underlined that it was only my personal standpoint and I acknowledged the positive aspects of the internet but did not mention them because I concentrated on the negative ones.

So, I guess there was a bit of a misunderstanding on both parts. Hope this has cleared things up.

And I'm truly happy for you two, Nightstorm and Tara - glad that is has worked out for you.

And for you, Kristin and your husband, too. And I guess there are a lot of such success stories to be told on how the internet has positively influenced people's lives, but I find more and more people not seeing or not wanting to see the negative aspects of the internet.

I guess, by the time you've read this, you'll be wondering why I'm posting to this list and the answer is as simple as the fact that I don't have anybody decent to talk to in real life.

And I know that not everybody is out on the internet for the same things - but please, please tell me I'm not being too paranoid in saying that virtual reality is only virtual in the end? (of course it can become a lot more than just virtual if you take the appropiate action, like meeting people and becoming real friends with them)

It's hard to explain for me. But hey, who was it who said: "To be great is to be misunderstood"? hehe.. kidding.. or maybe not ;-)

So, let me just repeat the central question of my last mail: "Am I the only one feeling this way about virtual reality?"

All I'm asking is to find at least some of the negative aspects - or let me rephrase that: to ask yourselves if you've ever experienced this feeling of perceiving virtual reality as just plain virtual and nothing more and that it was something empty and not really valuable etc.? Come on, you've gotta name some of those negative aspects...

And coming back to the vocation topic. Yeah, Jim, I know that vocation comes from what interests you. But my problem consists just of that. I don't know what interests me enough for me to take up a study on it. I mean, philosophy is not something I could live on, is it?

And, yeah, you don't have to worry about me considering you a saint. hehe.. I know myself, too well ("myself" - as in human) to be supposing such silly things.. hehe

You know, I also am out for the "subject" (if I can put it this way), and not for the personal stuff. I like to interact with other people's minds more than I do with themselves - pretty brutally expressed, I know, but it's not like I wouldn't cherish them as people. It's only the fact that they're so distant to me and that I really don't know a thing about them, that makes me say this.

So, staying on the "thought level"

PS. I also agree with you, Lee and Denise, that online I feel more free to be myself because (just like you Denise) I hate hurting people's feelings and sometimes I just say what they expect me to say for them not to feel offended by me - which is not a character trait to be really pround of, btw.

And, Lee, I admire honest, open and trusting people like you. But I guess, I just am to damn sceptical for that. At the same time I am aware of the fact that someone has to make the first step for trust to work out, right? But I'm just trying to stay in the safe zone, all the time.