Avatars

The representation or incarnation of something higher.

In most forums you can have a small image that is your "face" as a user, it makes it easier for others to remember you, and you can use this to display something significant about yourself.
This is called an avatar.
What does this come from?

Well, it REALLY means an incarnation of a god.

" The Avatara, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for [creating and maintaining the] material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or Avatara. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When They descend to the material creation, They assume the name Avatara.

( Chaitanya-caritamrita 2.20.263 -264)"

Read more about the hindu origin of this word at: http://www.avatara.org/
Or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar

Now, for my self I have chosen two basic themes of avatars, Albert Einstein (one of the people in history that I feel most connected to) and the powerful cat - the Tiger, my eastern astrological sign and an animal that I admire.
So far this is my Einsteins:

And these are the tigers:

I have made other avatars too, sometimes just for fun, sometimes for other people, but I will come back to that in another post.

Looking for some new ones?

Asterix (of Flashback) has a great collection: http://www.home.no/avatarbanken/index.htm
and a blog with avatars: http://avatarians.blogspot.com/
The thread on the English Flashback forum: http://forum.flashback.info/english/showthread.php?t=567