There are always young people out there who could use a mentor. Let them learn from your mistakes, so they don't make those mistakes themselves. Every little bit helps.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 11-19-2018).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: Question: At 80, how do you feel about life? All things considered, is it worth getting that far? What's the benefits? Wiser? Easier-going? A sense of coming full-circle on ones Book Of Life? Serious question.

I'll share an old Swedish proverb that my old Swedish Grandfather offered to me:

"“Wisdom is in the head and not in the beard”

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: Question: At 80, how do you feel about life? All things considered, is it worth getting that far? What's the benefits? Wiser? Easier-going? A sense of coming full-circle on ones Book Of Life? Serious question. I'm hitting 60 in 2 years, and I feel like I've seen plenty enough already to realize the futility of it all. Just the same old "human-condition" patterns repeating themselves. It appears that there is indeed nothing new under the sun.* Utter emptiness, meaninglessness, and futility are the lot of mankind, and that all human toil on this earth actually accounts for nothing. At 80, does one move past that in wisdom, or is that in & of itself the wisdom? *Ecclesiastes 1:9: "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

Boonie, you're an intelligent man and I don't feel qualified or worldly enough to write an objective opinion which is how most of us view the world. Emptiness, meaninglessness and futility are in the minds of men/women and don't particularly pertain to all of us.

At 80, I feel fortunate to have survived this long given some near-life ending experiences and I look back upon them and see how really close I came to dying. Philosophically speaking, life is what I make of it and my choices in life are mine alone and silly enough, I stumbled into comfort, I was able to stem the blood flow from my femoral artery to save my life, my wonderful wife urged me to go to university at age 42 and the most wonderful thing that happened to me was to have a 38 year marriage to my wife. I didn't plan my good life, I stumbled into it. I fully believe that my wife was my guide despite the fact that she was almost 20 years my junior. Others, not ourselves, often come into our lives and change us for good or bad or continuing our life as it is at present.

I am definitely not wiser than before and I make silly choices such as buying a restored GTO that I was afraid would get scratched. I sold it for a small profit and learned a lesson at age 78. In my old age, I realize that money isn't a panacea for anything but it can be a liability.

Eighty years of life experiences don't add up to much. I think that our health is very important and since bypass surgery, my diet and exercise regimen have kept me alive. With poor health, life isn't something to look forward to with trips to the doctor or hospital and it interrupts your life and it becomes your life. Wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, tons of medicines, prosthetics are meant to assist you in living longer or easing your life but again, it becomes your life or it is a major part of your life. Pain becomes your life if it is severe.

To a degree, I share your opinion about life's emptiness and, losing my wife devastated me and I see emptiness in mine unless I find a cure for my life's emptiness. Last September, I used some of my "mad money" to spend some time in Asia and I met many, many very good and open people who came into my life. The time I spent was a true joy except Vietnam but I met a couple in Saigon who invited me to their home in the Philippines and I had a great time. That two months changed my direction and I may be accepted to teach school in an island republic. Hopefully, that experience will help fill the emptiness in my life.

Other than the few things I mentioned, I have no words of wisdom or a magic wand and if I did, I'd be selfish and keep the want for myself!!! On a different note, I met a man when I was about 13 who was and he was the most intelligent person I met. I don't fully remember our conversation but his words of wisdom were these, "Think before you do something or say anything." I think that was good advice for a know-it-all kid. I'd like to read your reply.

quote Originally posted by starlightcoupe: Boonie, you're an intelligent man and I don't feel qualified or worldly enough to write an objective opinion which is how most of us view the world....I'd like to read your reply.

Thank you for the reply.

"It's what you make of it" seems to be the most common answer from those I ask.
Looking back, it seems I had the most promise, when I had the least, of both intelligence & material possessions.
Over that span of time, the more I learned about The Game, the less eagerness I had to play it.
It's like knowing how a Magicians trick is done.
Really takes a lot of the zip out of the show.

Having gotten this far down the road, viscerally, I seem to only be moved by tears or laughter.
Little else has the value to find purchase within me.
Everything else just seems to be symptoms & side effects of the shared millstone around our necks, 'The Human Condition'.

"Playing Life" has become such a 'gimmie' that it holds no challenge, no fear, no drive.
I remember when the game was tough.
No safety nets, no guarantees, no excuses.
You either made it, or you rubbed some dirt on it and got back up.

The challenge of just staying alive was the full meaning of the game.
And that was when I felt the most alive.
When even tomorrow wasn't a sure thing.

This thing we're doing now isn't life.
It's a manufactured placebo.
With just enough illusion to get us by.
And we buy full-in.

I think we are moving farther & farther away from each other.
Each of us becoming more & more solitary, and in a lot of ways, not just spending more time alone physically.
Without each other to bounce ideas and feelings off of, eventually, OUR truth becomes the ONLY truth.
And then we start condemning.

And "allowing" others to be whatever they want to be.
An allowance that makes no guarantee of safety or security, or even acceptance, but merely permission to feel it.
As if that was ever in our domain to allow another in the first place.

Where hate is no longer a negative emotion, but an accepted tool in "rationally" expressing & dealing with things we don't agree with.

I keep looking for some kind of new paradigm shift of humanity on the horizon, but any new thing seems to get gobbled up by The Machine almost instantly.
And by the time it is shaped & fitted, it is virtually unrecognizable from the rest of The Machine.

The only thing worth anything anymore is love.
Both giving it & getting it.
In it's purest form, it is the only real truth there is.
It can't be described, measured, or judged.
It's existence alone is it's truth.

It's the only thing you can't get rid of by giving it away.

So what is the answer?
I don't know, go hug someone.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 11-20-2018).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: Having gotten this far down the road, viscerally, I seem to only be moved by tears or laughter. Little else has the value to find purchase within me. Everything else just seems to be symptoms & side effects of the shared millstone around our necks, 'The Human Condition'.

https://www.psycom.net/depression-substance-abuse

quote Originally posted by randye: https://www.psycom.net/depression-substance-abuse

I'm not depressed.
I'm observing/exploring.

Someone else's idea of what my limits should be just isn't that interesting to me.

"The only thing worth anything anymore is love.
Both giving it & getting it.
In it's purest form, it is the only real truth there is.
It can't be described, measured, or judged.
It's existence alone is it's truth.

It's the only thing you can't get rid of by giving it away."

Boondawg, 2018

And that is the secret sauce that makes it all work.
Everything else is just noise.

[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 11-21-2018).]