How alone are we, REALLY?

These thoughts have been on my mind a whole lot lately.

Having just recently gone through some health problems that had me about to say all of my goodbyes, and knowing someone very close to me who just lost a parent... Well, I've learned lately that life is so very delicate.

One day, someone you love will be alive and well, enjoying the time with the people closest to them. Laughing, joking, sharing fond memories of the past....and the next day having the 'plug pulled' as everyone they love stands around the hospital bed sobbing uncontrollably while they watch the loved one slip away forever.

I've put a lot of thought into my end, to figure out who it would affect, and how. I am pretty sure even with the loss of someone who means more than the world itself, that life would go on as normal after the mourning process was complete.

For most people, their end is unpredictable. And, therefore, the goodbyes and the heartfelt words that you want so badly for the person to know, will never come in time, never when it matters. Which leads to one of the most painful and guilt-causing experiences a person can face.

Just the fact that life is so delicate, makes me think about how truly alone we really are in this world.

Add to this, in just a few small years, in the grand scheme of things, a totally new generation of people unknown to us will be walking around.

They will be driving the same streets we drove.
Feeling the same emotions that we felt. Love, pain, sorrow. Even the pain and guilt when their loved one is lost.
Dealing with the same hardships we experienced. Essentially living the same exact lives we lived, but we ourselves will have been long-forgotten. Our lives, but a tiny few years, in the history of man kind. As if we never existed at all.
Even the people who came from our children, our children's children, etc, will have no idea who we once were. Or that we lived the exact same lives as them, once upon a time.

Anyone else considered this kind of thing, and feel insignificant and alone? Or am I absolutely crazy for this kind of rationalization?

No you're not crazy I know how you feel.Insignificant.Alone.I know how you feel.But one thing though.
"For most people, their end is unpredictable."
How do we know we don't get a choice?How do we know we don't know long before it happens and choose to accept it.Some accept it others don't just yet.And keep fighting.
When feeling insignificant and especially when feeling alone think this.
The one thing in common with every single living thing that ever existed and that will ever exist is.
It is born and it dies.
That surely doesn't make us alone does it.

I don't really know how much of a comfort it is knowing that the one thing we have in common with every living creature, is death

Just has to be something bigger out there, I suppose. Guess it comes down to ones' own personal beliefs when it comes to what happens after death.

Kind of makes a person want to try the past-life regression thing, doesn't it?

I've seen a person sleeping, slack-jawed, still except for their breathing, seen that person alive, and seen them dead. People look markedly different (to me) after they have died. There are all sorts of medical explanations for this, but I am convinced that the lifeforce/spirit -- whatever you want to call it -- is the primary difference. I realize this is not evidence of anything, just an observation I've had the misfortune of making a few times.

I think there is more to a human being than a collection of cells. There are things that happen in our lives, outside of our control, that have an adverse effect on us. Beyond that, I think that happiness is mostly a choice, and laughter is a healing/strengthening thing.

reply to post by LostNemesis


I think there are many perspectives you can have on this. I have felt like you feel for a long time, but I am recently starting to see things differently.

On one hand, if this truly is all that there is, then yes... we ABSOLUTELY are completely insignificant and alone. We were born alone and we will all die alone. How can you look at the infinity of space and realize how you are just a tiny minuscule part of this infinitely large universe and not feel utterly worthless? Who cares if you go to work on time, in the universal Big Picture, it doesn't mean a thing. Who cares if we all die tomorrow, do you think the Universe will miss us?

Or on the other hand, maybe there is more to it. Maybe reality isn't what we think that it is. Maybe death is just another step that we all take. Maybe we aren't alone at all, but we are all the same. I had a "very minor" epiphany about this very topic earlier tonight and the idea that we are all the same, as ridiculous as it sounds, is beginning to make a lot more sense.

Right now, I would rather continue looking in to the idea that we are all part of the same thing. I would much rather go down that path than think that this consciousness of ours is for nothing. If that was the case, then it would seem that our entire purpose of being is to realize it is a waste.... And that just doesn't sound like a lot of fun if you ask me.

argentus -- Past-life regression has always been such a fascinating topic, honestly. Some find it hard NOT to believe in, with 2 or 3 year old children going on about a reality that they have never experienced, with too many coincidences that match up with real historical events.

The someone special to me who lost his parent, the night it happened, though still alive... He said his fathers' eyes were glazed over. He was "gone". Not sure how he knew this, when everyone else desperately wanted to hold onto the hope he'd come back.

Karl -- You must be onto something, about the consciousness we develop, and go through life using to analyze everything around us. Surely every other creature in the world doesn't sit around pondering the meaning of it all. Other dimensions that exist, beyond the one we call "reality", among many other things that seem to be distinctly 'human'. That could be something we've all got in common right there.
The mental capacity to see beyond what is physically in front of us?

Though it is a rather humourous thought, to consider that we're given the consciousness we have, just to realize it's all been a waste of time and emotions(something else the animal world isn't cursed with).
Would kind of seem like a sick joke.

Thanks for the replies. Kind of makes me want to look into communication with those who have passed... I want some answers.

We are not alone.
I don't believe life ends with death - where there is an end, there is always a new beginning. It's a neverending cycle, all life is infinite and eternal, physical and non-physical.
Everything you achieve in the physical world is absolutely worth it IMO, the physical arena is a learning environment that is created jointly by the souls that share it, and everything that occurs within it server their learning. Everything exists beyond the physical

[edit on 15/7/08 by pretty_vacant]

I know exactly what you are talking about.

I lost my little sister a few years back to drunk driving. I didn't get to say goodbye and even had the opportunity to hang out with her the night she died, but I was too tired after work. She called me that evening and I was "too busy" working to pick up the phone. I woke up the next morning to my mothers phone call, crying frantically telling me she had got into an accident and was dead. She went of the road into a tree. They didn't find her for over four hours, because it was foggy, and her truck had flipped over.

My father was surfing and my mom didn't know which beach he was at. I went to find him because, I knew which beaches he surfed at. He was just walking up from the water when I found him and he took one look at me and knew something horrible had happened. I had to tell my dad that his baby was gone. All he could say was "oh no" over and over.

It was the worst thing I've ever had to go through, and has left me feeling so alone to this day. I miss her so much, she was/is my best friend and the coolest girl anyone could know. She was 25.

The hardest thing for me was this exact thought. Once this generation is over, no one will have known my sister, like she never even existed and I have the hardest time accepting this. I wrestle with that still and it breaks my heart. I know she is with me. I see her in my dreams. I hear her call my name, I hear her tell me it's o.k., but it doesn't help at all. I don't want her to see me in pain, but it's so hard. It's been almost 6 years and not one day goes by that I don't think of her and my decision not to answer my phone.

I feel bad for holding on to her like that, but I have no one else, not one, that understood me as she did or was as good of a friend as she was/is. It's really selfish of me, but we went through so much pain together as kids. She was a hell raiser, but turned into such a wonderful adult and was the jewel of our family. I'm so proud of her and I miss her more then I could ever express in this lifetime or the next. If I could see one person ever again, she would be the one...I love you Michelle and I'm so sorry I didn't answer...

Peace

reply to post by letthereaderunderstand


That was the most gut wrenching thing I have read on here... I am so sorry.


Damn.....

Well you may "think you know" but you dont, and I dont, and nobody does really, the physical material world is so far beyond what we hear of spirits and past life "evidence" a lot of people who meditate or indulge in the occult say they have experiences and such, which i dont doubt, but you can also look at that entirely scientificly ( i know ive had the kindalini effect before, quite amazing) On a very related note my mothers dog just dies whom i was very close to and it is really very sad, I am hoping so much there is something beyond death for her and for all of us, if there isnt then when ur dead it wont matter i guess coz how could u care if your gone to nothing b ut another form of energy (atoms, ions and such) and not furthing your intelegence consiousness.

I too have experienced hearing things and even done a documentary on some very interesting mediums, (conspiracast dot com) but i have to remain skeptical, and for one I absoloutly feel what you feel and I'm sure anyone with half a brain does, there is one way I thought about it that would make our life seem more precious, that is if in the future our population is smaller and we care for life and our bodies in such presice detail, that we will inevitably feel extreemly important, not as a psychological trick on ourselves just for ego's sake, but for the reason that we do become enlightened as to how important we really are. I think i have a point there, and i hope we are not just robots that kick in and turn off when our cell technology has had enough, but I cat help but agree with your thinking especially at this time of our earth, maybe there is hope for the future?

This is why people turn to religion, to have that comfort, knowing that it isn't all for not. To even be asking that question I assume that you are not too into a particular religion otherwise you would have the answers you seek.

For me personally I was raised in the catholic faith, which helped me when I was young, but I never truly like the whole god as "Santa clause in the sky" view. Or if you don't listen to the Father then you will be punished etc. I think the way it was written is more by men to keep people in line and to have them behave in a way that is controllable. Now I'm not saying the whole religion is a farce, I think that it has a lot of redeeming qualities and helps a lot of people spiritually, and to cope with the random world, and for some people it is enough.

To me though the best book on this subject would be the Holographic Universe, although it is far from a book on religion, I think it is a glimpse of how the Universe might work in a way that makes sense.

Thanks Karl. If anything, this is why i feel that in this world, life is too short to spend hating each other over stupid disagreements. That event, as I said, is the most painful thing i have ever been through and to be quite honest am still screwed up over.

The good that has come out of it is that it gave me a level of empathy for others that I never had before. I had sympathy up until that point, but after that happened, i hurt when I see people in pain, like its happened to me.

It makes me realize if anything that really we aren't alone as we think, we just have to feel past our own boundaries. All of you guys are my brothers and sisters and I am learning to love everyone, even the ones that don't love me, because the pain I feel...everyone feels.

I couldn't put anyone through that and want to live. I know that my sister gave me that gift of sight and compassion and for that I'm thankful. Peace

I've thought a lot about this as well. About the universe, how it all began (or if there is even a beginning), and what our purpose is for being here. The more I delve into this, the crazier it becomes and everything starts to make less sense.

Just the thought that we might be alone and exist for nothing can be enough to make us give up on life. Looks like the only hope that many of us have is through religion (not necessarily organized religion, but believing that there is some kind of purpose in our existence).

Like Karl, I'm starting to think that we are all one and the same. Maybe we are God, with our consciousness spread out through all living things. When we treat others badly, we are only hurting ourselves.

"Maybe we are God"


I can say from personal experience that you are correct, Truth07.

People refuse to even think of fathoming this fact because their egos are so huge, and they think that the stuff they do to further their physical selves in this world actually matters. They don't realize that, when you pass on, you don't get to take your beautiful body or your money or your popularity with you. It is as useless right now as when you die, so just give it up! Do what you love, and don't hurt others, because you truly are only hurting yourself.

Please stop furthering your egos, people. You don't understand how the smallest advantage you take at the expense of someone else hurts them. If people even cared to think about that, the pain would be unbearable. Imagine that asshole at school or that hot shot at work, and imagine the suffering that would suddenly befall them if karma decided to show them the truth in one foul swoop.

I had a hard enough time dealing with what I've done to others when the realization hit me. I was borderline suicidal for about a month because of all the injustice, not only of myself, but on the behalf of everyone on Earth.
It was just too much. It's a heart wrenching realization for many differnt reasons... but in the end, it puts you at ease about things. Not to say you can ever not feel sorrow for a lost loved one. That's always hard... but rest assured, they are always.