Hi Skip, how's it doing?
Errrr... we thought we had a hope, but we actually didn't have a clue.
The functional difference between an imaginary hope and not having a hope is, in objective terms, zero in terms of outcome.
So nothing tangible has changed.
Therefore the subjective side consists of whether;
- you would be happier being an ignoramous with an imaginary hope that would mean you would flush your life away trying to attain it, or...
- you would be happier living an uncertain life fully aware of the brevity and preciousness of it, able to concentrate on what you thought was worthwhile.
I've tried the first option; it sucks roobars and nearly destroyed me. The second option is the ultimate in individual responsibility. Life is what you make it. Even if DREADFUL things happen to you, after that, life is what YOU (as in 'one') make it.
No spooks to help or hinder, just farty little humans just like you who can be good, bad, indifferent, or incandescent.
Man, I get excited just typing about it, and I'm in a job that doesn't pay me enough so I can only afford to see my kids every six weeks instead of every month (we live in different countries) that I wouldn't take unless my girlfriend was going through Conservatory and only able to work part time to do so. MAYBE in a year I can start a post-graduate teaching qualification (something I want to do). MAYBE in two or three years I'll actually be living within 25 miles of my daughters. MAYBE I won't have a €7,000 overdraft. MAYBE me and Delilah will then be able to have kids together.
I'll take that stack of maybes and bet it against a imaginary hope any day of the week. I'll fight for that stack of maybes. They might not happen as or when I want, but they will be REAL when they happen, and they will happen due to the efforts of ME and my love. They'll be OUR HOPES, realised, not some imaginary hope taken 'off-the-shelf' of some pathetic wasteful cult.
I know you know all this Skipper; we've known each other online since what, '97, '96?, from old Tishise's board. So PM me if there's spomething on your mind.
My guess is you need a good woman, not just a bed warmer, someone with a brain that will keep you fascinated. I know I didn't start flying straight and level until I got one.
'Cause without a life partner, then you have more freedom, yeah, but it ends up being the freedom to be alone. I like that; sometimes. But the idea of getting old and wrinkly with my luvy, maybe having kids so we can make their lives a misery when they grow up, and hoping that, maybe, we'll enjoy some small to medium extension of healthy life-spans due to advances in medicine, and having that little house in the country.... that's far better than being alone and free, and is as sweet a hope as I could wish for.
The only immortality I really wish for is that I already see in my children's eyes.