Another new friend I made at the SLCC is Pamala Clift also known as The Roadside Philosopher. Pamala held a well-attended Sunday morning session entitled “Shhh, The Realities of Virtual Relationships”. The crowd seemed diverse with representatives from all the communities, which actually is no surprise since we all have to deal with relationships no matter our in-world intentions. While waiting for everybody to get seated Pamala played this video to set the tone of the session:
As another interesting way of getting us started Pamala asked us all to fill out our 1.life profiles with “catchy” descriptions, she then read out loud our descriptions asking the audience if this particular person was someone people might be interested in meeting RL and then we were asked to stand up and show our RL avatars. This was quite daunting to me – not because I hide my RL identity, but because I’m quite shy RL. I really missed my avatar in that moment, but I did get up feeling safe in the company of kindred spirits. Interesting experience…
Pamala proceeded with a presentation of her thoughts on SL relationships bravely disclosing her own experience with her newbie in-world marriage and her current relationship with in-world partner Yossel – a relationship her RL husband accepts. Others from the audience told their stories of trying to make cross-over from SL to RL relationships – heartfelt stories that were very far from this successful story Hamlet just reported on.
As I understood it there had been some doubts on whether a session like this would be appropriate for the convention, and I’m guessing it has to do with the potential mature content. And yes there was talk about sex and human genitalia, but if anybody could pull off a session like that, it would be Pamala. With her very warm, humorous and open minded spirit she managed the session with elegance, and in all fairness sex was only a very small part of the conversation – emotional relations between humans and avatars were predominant.
I found myself to be quite smitten by Pamala’s personality and back in Denmark I decided to join her in-world group “The Roadside Philosophers”, and yesterday I participated in a 2 hour discussion on Post Mortem Existence at Pamalot.
Post Mortem Existence is of course a very complex topic and I’m not able to refer to any conclusions since we evidently didn’t reach any. It was, however a very nice experience. The meeting was well-attended, people were open and friendly and Pamala moderated very well. The group was founded back in 2007 and holds biweekly meetings on different topics chosen by the members. Here’s the description from the group charter:
1st person group..using SL as a metaphor in the search for truth.. Your thoughts are just as valid as any. Out-of-the box thinkers. Individuals that like to challenge convention by exploring new ideas. No rudeness or hostilities allowed. Brain storming can only work if no idea is stupid but presented with rational thought.
To me being in SL is in itself an ontological challenge and I do so enjoy philosophical discussions, so I’ll be joining these meetings whenever possible. Next meeting will be on September 5th, at 8 AM SLT and the topic will be Dreams. Possibly something on the logic and reality of dreams … I’m not quite sure, but Pamala will refine the topic before sending out a group notice.
/Mariis
Mariis' digitale refleksioner 
That is the most indepth and complimentary write up I could have ever hoped for. Thank you very much. I am honored by your words and consideration and am thrilled to add you to our brillant minds of the Roadside Philosophers.
Hugs! Pam