Why do you front?

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

Hi. I joined this community over a year ago but haven't been active for so long that everyone has probably forgotten me by now. So, I'm more-or-less a singleton. I used to date a girl who was a member of a system, but we broke last year. I don't really know what else to say as an introduction, so I'll go on to my question now.

Why do you bother fronting? Especially those of you that have home worlds?

I'm not suggesting that you stop doing it, that there's anything wrong with it, or anything like that. I'm just curious, wondering if there's something you can get in this world that you can't get elsewhere or what.

Comments

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

I like the food :p

[our-menagerie.livejournal.com]

lmao! little_heather would agree with this im sure!.

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

it's a good enough reason for me.. *grin*

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

*coughs*

Coffee.

Buffalo wings.

Good steaks.

Chicken fajitas...

Chinese...oooh.

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

chocolate covered strawberries

[romei.livejournal.com]

Tea

[mysticeden.livejournal.com]

For us although we have our own world on the inside we like being out. It feels more real being outside and there are people only out here plus more...hum... different.

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

it's the opposite for us, with this realm feeling "less real" than our own

[mysticeden.livejournal.com]

really? if that were the case for us we wouldn't be out much hum...

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

very true ^_^

[thehumangame.livejournal.com]

Someone has to.

[catskillmarina.livejournal.com]

That's for sure !!! The narrator's in my system have a dislike
of running things directly. They tend to mess up when they do.
And they, unlike the others cannot simply sleep. We have been
trying to keep a fronter at the controls all the time to keep the
narrators happy.

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

Why does someone have to? What would happen to the body if no one did? If you have another world, why are you invested in that body? *curious*

[thehumangame.livejournal.com]

Because we don't get to do things that result in implausible actions by our shared body. I can come up and she can go back; she can go back and I can come up. We can both come up, but we can't both go back.

(We don't have another world, btw.)

[ridetothesea.livejournal.com]

Ditto the someone has to comment. But those of us who do front enjoy it. This is a different world than anything we're used to, and despite its flaws, it can be a beautiful and surprising place. There is so much to learn and do here, so many things that can be done here that can't be done back home.

So basically because it's fun.

[luwana.livejournal.com]

uh... why not?

We have an 'inner world' but it's shit and I'd rather not be there if I can at all avoid it. Here? I have people I talk to, I play games, I listen to music, I love some of the food here entirely too much.

On top of which, this body is ours, and I sort of have a group maintainance obligation.


~Selene

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

If your inner world is "shit," I can well understand why you'd want to be here instead. The descriptions I had heard of inner worlds sounded quite nice - it didn't occur to me that it wasn't that way for everyone.

[shiningyellow.livejournal.com]

I often do it by accident. :) Sometimes I am the strongest one around, and it just happens.

o/~ Why are we here? / Because we're here...

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

We don't have an inner world, as such. So it's more like whoever's out + the viewing gallery. Mostly me, because I seem to be bungee-corded to the front, somehow. o..@

- Kat

Re: o/~ Why are we here? / Because we're here...

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

Do you like fronting? Are you happy about being "bungee-corded," resentful, or is it really not a big deal one way or the other?

Re: o/~ Why are we here? / Because we're here...

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

I don't often think of it in terms of like/dislike - it's just what I do. And pretty much the way it's been for as long as I can remember existing.

We are working on flexibility (my brainmates do some of our tasks at work, for instance) but it's rather limited since we're not keen on anyone but me dealing with other people. Es involuntarily goes mute at times - though it doesn't bother her - and Quincy for the most part doesn't want to.

It'd be nice to skip out when the body was sick and such, but eh. Someone's got to do it.

- Kat

[marrke.livejournal.com]

In an old episode of the twilight zone, a bank robber gets stuck in a reality where he has complete control of everyting. He wants to rob a bank, but each time he tries he gets to choose whether he succeeeds or fails. This is torture for him.

Our reason is similar. Our inner world is just a construct of our mind, so can be molded or shaped however we please. The problem with this is there simply isn't the same sort of randomness there is outside. That makes this outside world much more desirable and interesting in many ways.

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

...the randomness is actually appealing? I'll have to think about that one.

[janaanab.livejournal.com]

I have been told by many of the members of Aspen Patch that out here is more real than inside is. That hugging someone here is much better than hugging someone inside for example.

The adults say it is very important for the kids to be out to release negative feelings as well. If they don't get to do so out here then it builds up until it has to go somewhere and its like holes are torn inside. Each kid has their own realm but the people created in their realms to interact and care for them are more like holographic beings with lots of limitations. It's important for them to interact with the outer world. I was told by Helter that even negative interaction is better than no interaction. Now some of the kids like Tracee will tell you that inside is real and outside is dreaming but dreaming can be really good sometimes. :-)

interesting question

[our-menagerie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, those of us who front the most have close relationships with other people in the "outside" world and so we front because we want to interact with them out here when we can. Sometimes someone will front just to give sj a break from whatever crap is going on around her, not as an escape per se just to help her accomplish something that needs to get done that she is procrastinating on or afraid to do for whatever reason. Basically i guess we do that for the good of the system as a whole, things have to get done somehow eventually and if the "core" isnt functioning in such a manner to get things done in time its our responsibility to step in and help.

Other than that, people front to play games on the comp or to watch a favorite tv show, or read a book, or just to have fun out here. Thats how it is for us anyway.
abby

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

Aubrey and I Front because we were literally born to do so, that is what we do best - I exist to handle Work, he exists to handle anything else that requires interacting with the Outside.

There are people who front for specific things they like a lot: contact skin to skin with a lover. Ice cream. The use of the body's senses. Coffee.

There are people who never front and never will.

Also, when there is no one at all in the Front position, the body goes catatonic, which is more then a little annoying and hazardous.

[our-menagerie.livejournal.com]

Catatonic really? Our body does that sometimes too and we hadnt been able to figure out why. Maybe that could be it. Hmm something to think about. It mostly happens when we are alone. Which i suppose is a good thing...errr not good but better than happening in public lol. We also have one little girl in here, lisa, who was catatonic for years and still reverts to that sometimes. We thought it was because she was fronting and we werent aware of it that it was happening to our body but she says most of the time it isnt her.
~abby

ice cream good reason -sarah

[gryphons.livejournal.com]

to meet people/be with people we care about.experience things we enjoy.. . for some of us it's learning that things are different now.. and that can't happen inside as much.. we like it out here.. specially lately.. *Grins* Know this is similar to what others have said.. but for us it's true..

There are several here who are only around .. very VERY rarely.. they'll run things, but it wipes the body out for them to be here.. so it's not something they do very often, but they enjoy it while they're here.

[tempusfrangit.livejournal.com]

because, we have a right to. this is our world too. we just don't have the ability to leave the body we're in behind and run around, yknow?

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

I wasn't questioning your right to. Of course you have the right to front, to use your body, to share that body, and so on (unless your group deciedes that not a good idea, in which case it for you all to work out. At any rate, I'm not about to stop/complain about it).

I just don't really understand why anyone would want to, that's all. This comes from my own depressing view of the world. I figured that if I knew why others would voluntarily be in this world if they have other options, I might see this world with new eyes.

[thehumangame.livejournal.com]

if I knew why others would voluntarily be in this world if they have other options, I might see this world with new eyes.

it's not knowing, it's feeling. don't seek to know, seek to feel.

you talk like you could detach yourself from the world if you wanted to enough. could you attach yourself fully and wholeheartedly if you wanted to enough?

i like the world because i want to like the world, because desire is good and because i want to desire.

~s

[forever-alone.livejournal.com]

Because it's my "job", and because there are some good things to experience out here.

[pengke.livejournal.com]

Why do you get out of bed every day? Why don't you just lay there and dream or daydream? It's the same thing.

[martinanonymous.livejournal.com]

Heh... that's actually a large reason why I asked. Because, you see, if I had the option, I probably wouldn't get up. At least there are weeks where I wouldn't be inclined to do so. The thing is, I can't dissociate from my body completely nor can I keep it up indefinitely. On one level, my body and I are the same thing. We can’t separate. And eventually hunger and so on will drive me to move, to live. Theoretically I could change this, but it seems like a very drastic thing to do.

I was thinking about that - about my fondess for dissociating and the like - when I realized that some people actually do have the option of leaving their body, yet they still stick around. I know some even fight about their right to access it. This struck me as odd, so I decieded to ask about it.

[pengke.livejournal.com]

That's really kind of sad.

You do realize that however group interacts with each other nonphysically and no matter what are beliefs are about that interaction multiples all still physically exist in physical bodies. Bodies have a tendency to die if they're not fed and watered. Then there's grooming and jobs and all of the myriad of responsibilities attached to existing.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

What would you do if you didn't have to get up? I'm sort of curious. Would you use it for meditation, or for thinking about certain things?

[adreamerforme.livejournal.com]

I guess it's a bit of habit.
We all take our vacations from it and we all spend time out.

For me, personaly... it feels very natural. I've been a dominant for a long time. I enjoy spending time inside sometimes, but I also enjoy being out.

I guess, it's the experience... the memories I've built in this realm, the friends we have here.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

It's not really a choice with us. We don't seem to have very much control over who fronts at any given time, although we have good communication. Or, when we can get someone deliberately to the front, it's often because they're the best at a particular task, or in some cases the only one around who can handle it. In that case, they see it as a matter of responsibility to the group.

[pthalo]

I front a lot because no one else wants to front a lot. I made friends here and I'm kind of attached to them.
Pthalo

i get lonly inside sometimes. i like meeting people outside. but i dont know too many people. cos i dont talk and it makes it hard. but i have friends online. its nice.
Lydia

[magicalrealism.livejournal.com]

Well, I quite like this world. Hard to believe, apparently, but true. I also like our inner world well enough, but it's... quite small. Hanging around in a fairly small space with the same dozen or so other people FOREVER would probably get on my nerves; like living in a house with only your family and never venturing outside, or something.

Also, while we do have an inner world, it's inner. So someone has to front, because otherwise the body is just going to lie there until it starves to death, at which point there'll be no more inner world either.

And, mostly, because we're another of those systems which doesn't have much control over it. We just get stuck out there. Sometimes it's a bit annoying if there's something you'd rather be concentrating on inside, but nobody really particularly minds it.

[hello-horror.livejournal.com]

Simple! Our host lives in the middle of a big city! It's way more exciting out there then it is in my space, 'kay? When she used to sing in a band, sometimes I'd front and be the star of the show!!! :D

Also she shuts down a lot, so somebody better do something. And a lot of those times may as well be me. ;)

--Lizzy, The Devil Dollhaus

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

We front because our birth self died and we took up his life. Otherwise most of us would never have known of Earth. Damn that SOB, he cost me a good job as a housekeeper. (Holbern)

[lgrau.livejournal.com]

only because the shield is sick and tired of shielding, and is demanding a different way of operating.
some people like music and other things out here, though.