Page - 165 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Bridging Real and Virtual: A Spiritual Challenge | 165www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 159–181 shrink to a zero point of pure awareness – this would indeed be a completely new form of existence.17 in other words, bodily sensations might also become data. if a sensation can be noticed, why not digitize it? Why not have it represented in the virtual world just as we represent musical tones in binary digits? As components of the ego’s experience, why not add physical sensations to the map of virtual worlds? List raises the specter of a voided subjectivity with zero non-virtual content. With everything human uploaded to data storage, what role is left for human agen- cy? With everything virtualized, what remains of subjectivity? Can there be a pure awareness distinct in theory from the virtual world? What is left then to upload to the computer?18 List worries about the folly of reducing everything to the virtual. Much of what situates the self – gender, race, the community of other people who help construct the personal identity – grows through embodiment, and no pro- grammed information can exhaust that self-identity. she sees, nonetheless, a “terminal body” emerging in contemporary culture, the neglected body that builds an online identity, or several online identities, that feels more substan- tial and more supported than the embodied and situated self. the alienated body then becomes a terminal for logging on to the cyber-self or multiple online identities that thrive in a virtual community, a community that reinforces the chosen avatar or virtual identity more effectively than the physically surround- ing community. In this way, “computer addiction” affirms the virtual self that is constructed and fortified by the online community (e-mails, forums, Facebook, MUDs, instant messaging, etc.). Correctly, in my view, List finds an alternate model of physical self-percep- tion in the Chinese paradigm of the “energy body”. The holistic life force flow- ing through the human body can be awakened by conscious practice as is evi- denced by the arts of tai Chi Chuan, yoga, and Qigong. these meditative arts use soft movements and dynamic breathing to stimulate a warm current that can be sensed directly by the focused mind. Gendlin’s “focusing” techniques function similarly, by reaching unconscious blockages that then bubble up to the surface of consciousness. When the energy body or bioenergy is conscious- ly felt, the terminal body is reincarnated and replanted in its cosmic situation of embodiment. in her conclusion, “Wired: A Meditation on Being Online”, List describes a phenomenon that many feel today: despite efforts to maintain a feeling of be- ing grounded or rooted in the physical realm, a highly stimulating digital envi- ronment can keep the brain “switched on” with exciting answers and engaging 17 Wessely/Larcher 2000, 31. 18 see an argument for this view in Zhai 1998. the classic in this line of thought is Moravec 1988.