This is all there is, is not sad or a happy fact it is what it is, but if there's something else that would be a nice surprice, but what the heck I enjoy life now!
"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it"
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Well, I guess I'll go ahead and speak up. I wouldn't call myself "religious" because I hate that word. It's dumb. Having religion isn't what it is about. It's about having faith in Jesus. I'm not religious, but I have faith. Do I spend my days worrying about if I did right or wrong? Hell no. I'm content and happy much like you all are. The only difference is, I KNOW what's going to happen when I die. And it's going to be indescribable. It brings me peace and comfort. There are too many things about this Earth/creation to ignore that God exists. Nature is too perfect and beautiful.
I think there are a lot of misconceptions about us "religious" folk and the idea that most of us are running around worrying that we did something wrong, just isn't true. If you truly love Jesus and have Faith, it comes out in your life. You might have to work on it from time to time, but life is still happy.
SO if this is all there is - I'd be kind of happy. But it isn't, so I'm happier.
About 1-2 months ago, I was thinking "Is this It?" and got very depressed. I didn't see life changing much, and that was not good. My life may seem like sludge flowing. My family is more involved, and I'm trying to make things better. It's sludge with sunshine shining on it.
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
I find large general questions like this really hard to answer because I don't always know what angle the question is coming from. For example, do you mean, "Are you happy with your life as it is now and if it never changed would you be satisfied?" or, do you mean "If there's no heaven or afterlife, would you be happy knowing that your life is just what you experience from day to day?"
See, to me, that question could go in either direction and I'd have to answer the different versions quite specifically.
So, I'll make it easy for myself and tell you I'm answering the second possible question ("If there's no heaven or afterlife...")
I find large general questions like this really hard to answer because I don't always know but angle the question is coming from. For example, do you mean, "Are you happy with your life as it is now and if it never changed would you be satisfied?" or, do you mean "If there's no heaven or afterlife, would you be happy knowing that your life is just what you experience from day to day?"
See, to me, that question could go in either direction and I'd have to answer the different versions quite specifically.
So, I'll make it easy for myself and tell you I'm answering the second possible question ("If there's no heaven or afterlife...")
Yes.
this whole thread - specifically the title - reminds me of the flick as good as it gets, and specifically the jack nicholson line in the shrink's office saying "what if this is as good as it gets?"....and all looking on in horror, and one woman actually gasps.
life is change, change is life....i cannot imagine anyone, even perfectly happy today....being 'satisfied' with their life remaining as is, stagnant.....no future change. to live Is to change. at least that's my thought.
That's the creative part of lives isn't it? The shifting of this and that, the improvement of somethin' else, the idea that comes from nowhere, the feeling that drops from above...
Yes, I agree. The movement through time should not be without activity.
So I started this thread a couple of days ago at 2:00 am after a few too many..I like asking vague questions because it's interesting to see where people take it ..
'I want to hurry home to you
put on a slow, dumb show for you
and crack you up
so you can put a blue ribbon on my brain
god I'm very, very frightening
and I'll overdo it'
Yes, but sometimes the changes really seem small even if the activities are big. It is still like life is in stalemate, there is nothing to create a new reason for joy.
There is the white picket fence, family, house, dogs vision, and the "It will happen when you least expect it", but if not expecting it is reaching 20 years, what is life, then? It's like sludge on rerun. There is less hope. Sure, I could try to skydive, or learn to make ravioli or do any quintessential mid-life activities, but the elusive items whatever they are, that would truly complete the puzzle of my soul . . . am I done? Were the dreams a joke?
That's the mid-life question I've been asking Am I done?
I'm actually more cheerful than this particular post would suggest, but life is what it is.
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
So I started this thread a couple of days ago at 2:00 am after a few too many..I like asking vague questions because it's interesting to see where people take it ..
Yes, but sometimes the changes really seem small even if the activities are big. It is still like life is in stalemate, there is nothing to create a new reason for joy.
There is the white picket fence, family, house, dogs vision, and the "It will happen when you least expect it", but if not expecting it is reaching 20 years, what is life, then? It's like sludge on rerun. There is less hope. Sure, I could try to skydive, or learn to make ravioli or do any quintessential mid-life activities, but the elusive items whatever they are, that would truly complete the puzzle of my soul . . . am I done? Were the dreams a joke?
That's the mid-life question I've been asking Am I done?
I'm actually more cheerful than this particular post would suggest, but life is what it is.
Ms. Haiku, I've been reading a book lately that talks about how people actually create the lives they have with their own internal dialogue and visions of what will happen. The author believes that our own thoughts attract bad things or good things to us.
So, I guess, be careful with the idea and fear that your "life is done" because it might just be like the words of Crazy Mary...it might meet you half-way. :?
I've been really working to hold my thoughts on the lines I want them to be on...the best internal channels...the buzzing ones...and I think there's something to that.
micromagement is imposible and randomness make things tougher, life is what it is, but I would like to think that even thou life will kill eventually I'll give a good fight trying to be happier each day.
"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it"
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Ms. Haiku, I've been reading a book lately that talks about how people actually create the lives they have with their own internal dialogue and visions of what will happen. The author believes that our own thoughts attract bad things or good things to us.
So, I guess, be careful with the idea and fear that your "life is done" because it might just be like the words of Crazy Mary...it might meet you half-way. :?
I've been really working to hold my thoughts on the lines I want them to be on...the best internal channels...the buzzing ones...and I think there's something to that.
I've read books like the ones you suggest, and that's what is so confusing. I just recently asked Am I Done, and I cringe when I do it because of what I learned from those types of books. I feel like I'll be struck by lightening. However, after 41 years of living it's a valid question. I don't know how to get an honest answer, you know, as it's all on faith/belief system. I don't want the meet-me-halfway energy to come if there is really more to do. Confusing.
Post edited by Ms. Haiku on
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
So far, as of today, I can answer yes. I have a home with family and friends, a job that pays decently, and good health. Yes, things could be better, and there are struggles- but I truly can say that I am content.
if this is all there is, well, I have a good life- and I live it for the day- and look with hope for tomorrow.
So, I guess, be careful with the idea and fear that your "life is done" because it might just be like the words of Crazy Mary...it might meet you half-way. :?
I've been really working to hold my thoughts on the lines I want them to be on...the best internal channels...the buzzing ones...and I think there's something to that.
I totally believe this. If your thoughts are in a bad place, then it permeates everything around you- and you give off this vibe- and it affects others around you. And thinking you had a fucked up night- actually becomes one. Same goes for the opposite- if your having a good day- then everything is sunny.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
I've read books like the ones you suggest, and that's what is so confusing. I just recently asked Am I Done, and I cringe when I do it because of what I learned from those types of books. I feel like I'll be struck by lightening. However, after 41 years of living it's a valid question. I don't know how to get an honest answer, you know, as it's all on faith/belief system. I don't want the meet-me-halfway energy to come if there is really more to do. Confusing.
The piece of information that has been interesting to me is the idea that there is value to imagining the BEST thing you could hope for. Rather than limiting your wishes, dreams, ideas to what is likely or to what is reasonable or to what is really smaller than what you want. The idea is to envision what you'd want to bring to yourself if you were actually the writer of your own life.
Ms. Haiku, you like to write. What if you made yourself the main character in your own favorite story? A story where you could make the chapters about anything you'd want to have happen if you lived in a magical, surprising world?
The piece of information that has been interesting to me is the idea that there is value to imagining the BEST thing you could hope for. Rather than limiting your wishes, dreams, ideas to what is likely or to what is reasonable or to what is really smaller than what you want. The idea is to envision what you'd want to bring to yourself if you were actually the writer of your own life.
Ms. Haiku, you like to write. What if you made yourself the main character in your own favorite story? A story where you could make the chapters about anything you'd want to have happen if you lived in a magical, surprising world?
I'd definitely have a kick-ass job at the library of congress. I have 3 applications pending so wish me luck!
I've written asking for life to be joy, but I have not written the fun story as if I have it. Maybe I have, and I just don't remember. So many books espouse the virtues of politely but bravely asking the universe. Time to write my magical world. Should be fun! Thanks for the suggestions
Post edited by Ms. Haiku on
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
The piece of information that has been interesting to me is the idea that there is value to imagining the BEST thing you could hope for. Rather than limiting your wishes, dreams, ideas to what is likely or to what is reasonable or to what is really smaller than what you want. The idea is to envision what you'd want to bring to yourself if you were actually the writer of your own life.
Ms. Haiku, you like to write. What if you made yourself the main character in your own favorite story? A story where you could make the chapters about anything you'd want to have happen if you lived in a magical, surprising world?
I'd definitely have a kick-ass job at the library of congress. I have 3 applications pending so wish me luck!
I've written asking for life to be joy, but I have not written the fun story as if I have it. Maybe I have, and I just don't remember. So many books espouse the virtues of politely but bravely asking the universe. Time to write my magical world. Should be fun! Thanks for the suggestions
Good luck on the job applications that are pending!
I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they´re blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like dream in the night
Who can say where we´re going
No care in the world
Maybe i´m learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing
i dont understand the whole mentality, of "lets bet, or wager, and hope that maybe when we die we get to go to heaven."
Oh! Your post fits perfectly with the experience I had yesterday:
Although temps were in the 90s, a group of Christian preachers were working Hollywood Boulevard in the brutal midday sun. Two men stood on soapboxes (or whatever) with microphones telling long stories. A dozen others spread out among the tourists, asking, "Are you going to Hell when you die?!" The sidewalks were littered with fake million-dollar bills that they were handing out to passersby.
As I escaped the heat to descend into the subway, I thought I had also left the preachers behind. I was wrong. One man accosted me on the mid-level. He held out one of the fake bills and asked, "Can I ask you a million dollar question?" I never take any of the ads, coupons, propaganda, etc. that HoBo's hawkers try to give me. So I pointed out to him that the bills were terribly wasteful as people were dropping them all over, creating quite a mess.
When I reached the platform to wait for my train, a second man was bothering a young couple sitting on a bench. He held up a bill to them and asked, "Can I ask you a trillion dollar question?" I had to laugh to myself. Man #1 had a million dollar question, but Man #2 upped the stakes, and had a trillion dollar question! Isn't one trillion equivalent to one million MILLION? If I had joined his religion, perhaps Man #1 would promise me a million years of glorious afterlife. But maybe Man #2 would promise me a trillion years. Ooh, even better! Yet the Christians I know all think that they will "live" in death forever. Forever is much longer than a trillion years, or a trillion trillion, or a google times a zillion.......infinity plus one........and a day.
SO if this is all there is - I'd be kind of happy. But it isn't, so I'm happier.
Sounds like you are trying to convince yourself. I mean it is a fact that no one knows what happens so I find it strange that you seem to know. An atheist can get away with saying they KNOW without looking silly, because from what any of us can see with our own eyes, this IS it. BUT, there may still in fact be an afterlife we cannot see. Either way, without being offensive, I must inform you that you do not know.
I'm doing my best to live my life with no regrets and to experience every wonderful thing this world has to offer.
So when it's all over... I will be satisfied.
Here's to hoping I've got many years to make that happen.. although I think I'm off to a darn good start.
PJ: St. Paul 6.16.2003, St. Paul 6.26.2006, St. Paul 6.27.2006, Hartford 6.27.2008, Mansfield 6.28.2008, Mansfield 6.30.2008, Beacon Theater 7.1.2008, Toronto 8.21.2009, Chicago 8.23.2009, Chicago 8.24.2009, Philly 10.30.2009, Philly 10.31.2009, Columbus 5.6.2010, Noblesville 5.7.2010
EV: Los Angeles 4.12.2008, Los Angeles 4.13.2008, Nashville 6.17.2009, Nashville 6.18.2009, Memphis 6.20.2009
Comments
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Why not (V) (°,,,,°) (V) ?
lol.
just a Homer Simpson quote.
imho
I think there are a lot of misconceptions about us "religious" folk and the idea that most of us are running around worrying that we did something wrong, just isn't true. If you truly love Jesus and have Faith, it comes out in your life. You might have to work on it from time to time, but life is still happy.
SO if this is all there is - I'd be kind of happy. But it isn't, so I'm happier.
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
I find large general questions like this really hard to answer because I don't always know what angle the question is coming from. For example, do you mean, "Are you happy with your life as it is now and if it never changed would you be satisfied?" or, do you mean "If there's no heaven or afterlife, would you be happy knowing that your life is just what you experience from day to day?"
See, to me, that question could go in either direction and I'd have to answer the different versions quite specifically.
So, I'll make it easy for myself and tell you I'm answering the second possible question ("If there's no heaven or afterlife...")
Yes.
this whole thread - specifically the title - reminds me of the flick as good as it gets, and specifically the jack nicholson line in the shrink's office saying "what if this is as good as it gets?"....and all looking on in horror, and one woman actually gasps.
life is change, change is life....i cannot imagine anyone, even perfectly happy today....being 'satisfied' with their life remaining as is, stagnant.....no future change. to live Is to change. at least that's my thought.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
Yes, I agree. The movement through time should not be without activity.
put on a slow, dumb show for you
and crack you up
so you can put a blue ribbon on my brain
god I'm very, very frightening
and I'll overdo it'
There is the white picket fence, family, house, dogs vision, and the "It will happen when you least expect it", but if not expecting it is reaching 20 years, what is life, then? It's like sludge on rerun. There is less hope. Sure, I could try to skydive, or learn to make ravioli or do any quintessential mid-life activities, but the elusive items whatever they are, that would truly complete the puzzle of my soul . . . am I done? Were the dreams a joke?
That's the mid-life question I've been asking Am I done?
I'm actually more cheerful than this particular post would suggest, but life is what it is.
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Ms. Haiku, I've been reading a book lately that talks about how people actually create the lives they have with their own internal dialogue and visions of what will happen. The author believes that our own thoughts attract bad things or good things to us.
So, I guess, be careful with the idea and fear that your "life is done" because it might just be like the words of Crazy Mary...it might meet you half-way. :?
I've been really working to hold my thoughts on the lines I want them to be on...the best internal channels...the buzzing ones...and I think there's something to that.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Why not (V) (°,,,,°) (V) ?
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
www.cluthelee.com
www.cluthe.com
So far, as of today, I can answer yes. I have a home with family and friends, a job that pays decently, and good health. Yes, things could be better, and there are struggles- but I truly can say that I am content.
if this is all there is, well, I have a good life- and I live it for the day- and look with hope for tomorrow.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
The piece of information that has been interesting to me is the idea that there is value to imagining the BEST thing you could hope for. Rather than limiting your wishes, dreams, ideas to what is likely or to what is reasonable or to what is really smaller than what you want. The idea is to envision what you'd want to bring to yourself if you were actually the writer of your own life.
Ms. Haiku, you like to write. What if you made yourself the main character in your own favorite story? A story where you could make the chapters about anything you'd want to have happen if you lived in a magical, surprising world?
I've written asking for life to be joy, but I have not written the fun story as if I have it. Maybe I have, and I just don't remember. So many books espouse the virtues of politely but bravely asking the universe. Time to write my magical world. Should be fun! Thanks for the suggestions
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Good luck on the job applications that are pending!
I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they´re blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like dream in the night
Who can say where we´re going
No care in the world
Maybe i´m learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
Oh! Your post fits perfectly with the experience I had yesterday:
Although temps were in the 90s, a group of Christian preachers were working Hollywood Boulevard in the brutal midday sun. Two men stood on soapboxes (or whatever) with microphones telling long stories. A dozen others spread out among the tourists, asking, "Are you going to Hell when you die?!" The sidewalks were littered with fake million-dollar bills that they were handing out to passersby.
As I escaped the heat to descend into the subway, I thought I had also left the preachers behind. I was wrong. One man accosted me on the mid-level. He held out one of the fake bills and asked, "Can I ask you a million dollar question?" I never take any of the ads, coupons, propaganda, etc. that HoBo's hawkers try to give me. So I pointed out to him that the bills were terribly wasteful as people were dropping them all over, creating quite a mess.
When I reached the platform to wait for my train, a second man was bothering a young couple sitting on a bench. He held up a bill to them and asked, "Can I ask you a trillion dollar question?" I had to laugh to myself. Man #1 had a million dollar question, but Man #2 upped the stakes, and had a trillion dollar question! Isn't one trillion equivalent to one million MILLION? If I had joined his religion, perhaps Man #1 would promise me a million years of glorious afterlife. But maybe Man #2 would promise me a trillion years. Ooh, even better! Yet the Christians I know all think that they will "live" in death forever. Forever is much longer than a trillion years, or a trillion trillion, or a google times a zillion.......infinity plus one........and a day.
Sounds like you are trying to convince yourself. I mean it is a fact that no one knows what happens so I find it strange that you seem to know. An atheist can get away with saying they KNOW without looking silly, because from what any of us can see with our own eyes, this IS it. BUT, there may still in fact be an afterlife we cannot see. Either way, without being offensive, I must inform you that you do not know.
So when it's all over... I will be satisfied.
Here's to hoping I've got many years to make that happen.. although I think I'm off to a darn good start.
EV: Los Angeles 4.12.2008, Los Angeles 4.13.2008, Nashville 6.17.2009, Nashville 6.18.2009, Memphis 6.20.2009