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Lost in the Oilfield

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Well, thought I'd come back and log in after about a year... and probably was a year before that last login that i was on before so I suppose I'm not really active anymore, but good to see I do still have an account.

Met some fun, intelligent, and incredibly interesting people on here. But unfortunately in these forums, as with in real life, I tend to drift away for years at a time into reclusion from humanity. So I appologize for not being around but it is the very nature of my being.

Just because I like being alone though, does not mean I do not think of, or care about, the people I have met on my sojourns to the land of the living from my little island of solitude.

So thought I'd say hello and give my best wishes for the years to come should I decide not to stick around, but to jump on my boat and sail back to my island. ;)

I hope that many new and wonderful people have joined this forum to keep the community strong and the support ever-present.

To Hijacc, Bluey, Jules, Sloth, Nevermore, Blue Sky, Qui, just to name a few (and forgive me those I have not named, but have had the pleasure of speaking with): I hope you have found what it is you seek in life and enjoy your lives to the fullest every day.

-- From here on you may not want to continue simply because it may bore you if you'd prefer a lighter read... like the word association game I loved on here =D --

A couple weeks ago I hade a profound moment. You know what I mean, one of those lightning bolts from the sky that just makes your thoughts grind to a halt and freeze you for a second?

I was walking into a store, and noticed some grafitti on the side of a dumpster as I finished my smoke. Looking closer, this is what it said:

"The meaning of life is to find a life of meaning."

Simple, straight forward, perfection. It completely blew me away.

I searched google but found nothing that put it so straight forward and perfectly. And further on in this post you will see I have searched a great deal more than just google. This is a masterpiece I thought. And ever since I have been telling those I interact with this story.

I have written a thesis on the meaning of life, and have given a speech on it in class. I have studied the meaning of life since I was twelve years old reading the combined works of Aristotle, Plato, Salon, Socrates, annonymous ancient parabels, Near Eastern myths, the surviving works from Babylonian, Sumerian, ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, Mesthopotamian texts (some overlapping civilizations but the distinction of their existance in time is very important), the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the epic of Gilgamesh, yes I have read them all through and thoroughly. I could keep dropping tens of thousands of names spanning recorded time and from time-before-time, but let us summarize it as: stories and accounts from all of documented human existance. I am not bragging, such studies have been my fervorous passion since childhood, they enthralled me from the moment I was able to realize the relation of timeless facets of humanity between Bible stories (the only ancient parabels and accounts of the past I was aquainted with at that age) and more current fictional novels I had read as a child (one of the first books I read, when I was learning to read, was a copy of The Hobbit that my father had read and kept from when he was a child. So you can understand how comparative human concerns and dillemas could easily be found between both books even as a child, if you are aquainted with these works). And I believe spending so much time studying over the words of the dead has left me somewhat unfit, or incapable to a degree to adapt to, or function within the current world entirely. Primarily because knowing so much of the past I can see there is no future but that which has already been passed on orally, or written countless times over. Even every aspect of the world today is just a repetition of the world of the past. For every wonderful new experience someone tells me, I can only think of the innumerable similar accounts still preserved in texts from the past. But my personal history aside, and to attempt to remain on topic, what I am saying is that I have indeed heard the above statement before many times over. And never have I seen it put so clearly as what I read on the side of a trash bin. Most profound indeed. I was also curious if anyone has ever seen this statement themselves put exactly as I found it. I unfortuantely am not a computer, and so my mind does not retain everything I have ever read. So, it is likely that I could simply have forgotten the author of this statement with the passage of time. And that the placement and environment these words were found in just amplified it enough to burn it into my memory forever. I will never forget those words in their exact placement now, ever.

Anyway, that being said I should call it a night now, and bid you all a fond farewell till we should meet again.

And i find it rather amusing that on returning after such a long time away, that my first message should be a large, though not quite as epic one, as was the case many times in the past, when I wrote more frequently on here. And messaged some of the users, perhaps still present here, with the verbose and droning flare I so fondly cherish :D
 
Hijacc, Bluey, Nevermore, and Qui come in on occassion and at varying intervals. :p So you might still see them around.

Lost in the Oilfield said:
"The meaning of life is to find a life of meaning."

I don't quite agree. Meaning is nice, but many people on this earth will quite simply never find a greater meaning. Not because they're incapable, but because the sheer statistics/logistics of life on this planet ensures a certain level of mundane-ness that most will never be able to accept easily if their set goal is to find higher meaning.

I think the meaning of life is to simply enjoy the ride and to love ALL experiences, good AND bad.

Anyway, welcome back to the site. :)
 
Badjedidude said:
Hijacc, Bluey, Nevermore, and Qui come in on occassion and at varying intervals. :p So you might still see them around.

Lost in the Oilfield said:
"The meaning of life is to find a life of meaning."

I don't quite agree. Meaning is nice, but many people on this earth will quite simply never find a greater meaning. Not because they're incapable, but because the sheer statistics/logistics of life on this planet ensures a certain level of mundane-ness that most will never be able to accept easily if their set goal is to find higher meaning.

I think the meaning of life is to simply enjoy the ride and to love ALL experiences, good AND bad.

Anyway, welcome back to the site. :)

You are correct, but you are also mistaken.

By simply enjoying the ride and all experiences you have found the meaning of your life, and a life of meaning to you, since this statement applies to all lives, but also does not define exactly what that life of meaning means to the individual.

We must all find out what that meaning is in our own lives, because the meaning of life is what defines our existance whether we realize it or not. But it is also a living thing, and adapts and changes as we grow and change. Ourselves, our environment, our time, and our space are factors in our existance that define, mould, and remake our meaning of life as time goes on and things change. A life of meaning may not seem like one five years from now. And so it adapts and changes according to an existance as it stands in that instance. A child has few thoughts on having children, a teen has few thoughts on dying, an adult has few thoughts on the innocent mischiefs and discoveries of childhood, an elder has few thoughts of the exploration and the broad scope of what the future holds for them as a teen would. The only thing about the meaning of life that remains a constant, is that it changes for everyone.

For you a life of meaning is one that involves enjoying life and all it's experiences. And it is, without question, a commendable use of your existance. For me the meaning of life, and a life of meaning, is to have loved, cherished, and built a better world for my nieces and nephews through the sacrafice of my free time and monetary assests. However, should I some day meet a woman and have children, I will have a new one. A life of meaning to me then would be one where I ensured that I had given the most free time and monetary assets to my own children first, and my brother and sisters children second.

The only thing that is not already written and repeated a million times over throughout history is the culminantion of collective and individiual experiences that forms you, or I, or my little family members. So cherish your meaning of life Badjedidude, and the life of meaning you're building today, because it is yours and no one can take that from you, or recreate it precisely as you are right now. ;)
 
Lost in the Oilfield said:
You are correct, but you are also mistaken.

Add "in my opinion" to that and you'll be closer to the mark.

Lost in the Oilfield said:
And it is, without question, a commendable use of your existance.

How kind of you to say so. (D)

Lost in the Oilfield said:
So cherish your meaning of life Badjedidude, and the life of meaning you're building today, because it is yours and no one can take that from you, or recreate it precisely as you are right now.

Thanks for the kind words. Seriously.

In return I'll tell you what I think of you from first impressions, because I'm just blunt like that.

You come across as being a bit "know-it-all" and patronizing in the tone of your writing and in the way that you insist on using higher-level language when not strictly necessary. The entire tone of your last post was of an enlightened mentor speaking to his oft-befuddled yet endearing philosophy student.

And personally I don't find that to be overly conducive to easing any communication between us.

Again, I really mean no offense by this, but it's what I see. *shrug*
 
Hey, Lost. :) It's good to see you again. It HAS been a while, lol. :p

I believe BJD mentioned bluey, hijacc and qui, and I don't know jules and blue sky. I remember reading Blue Sky's post...always a kind word.
As for Sloth, it's been a long while since I spoke with him, but the last time I did, he seemed to be living life with more zeal. I hope he's enjoying himself and that he's content.
Again, it's great to see you back around, even if only for a while. :)
 
I respectfully disagree with you BJD.

I believe he had good things to say to us and I enjoyed reading his opening post.

I'd wondered what happened to you Lost. I saw how many posts you had when I was flipping through the members pages on the search bar and thought "hmn he has a lot of posts, I wonder what happened to him."

So now I know. :)

It's amazing how many answers you find if you stick around long enough :p
 
SophiaGrace said:
I respectfully disagree with you BJD.

lulz You ain't allowed to. :p

I wasn't insulting the dude anyway. His response just read wrong for me for some reason. *shrug* :p
 
I personally think the meaning of life is different for everyone.
Some are here to learn, some to just have fun, some maybe to be punished for other stuff they did maybe? IDK. Some I guss for all of them reasons or just some and a billion trillion moor that I am incapable of even thinking never mind typing.

Glad I got a mention though :D You be giving me a big head doing that old boy :p

I am good though. still on the roller-coaster of what is life.
Up and down we go always haha.

Still crying, still laughing and even smiling and even contemplating and still searching for my meaning of life. Guss am still alive huh

Good to see you here and that your OK :)
 
wow. I remember you LOF. You were one of the people who said hi to me in my frist thread. You're a true old schooler. Most of the people from your generation of ALLers aren't around anymore. Collette, Jales, etc. But funny enough, the ones you mentioned are still kicking around....I guess that makes us the ones who haven't moved on with our lives, or found their meanings, or lived meaningfully.

As for your philosophy there, I don't know. It's late. No time for thinking. Glad to see you again man.
 
Hi. I definitely remember you.

How are you? I hope you are great..

What's on my mind today, is what happened to Eve?
 
How could I forget LITO :p

Glad to hear it sounds like your doing well, I'm doing alright, life has its ups and downs, happiness is never permanent and all that jazz

As for the meaning of life I've always liked this quote by Dr. James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA:


I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say 'Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose' but I'm anticipating a good lunch.
-Dr. James Watson
 
Ah, I made a NeverMore sighting. :)
 
you know minus and nevermore always seemed like the same person. I used to mix you two up in the beginning. Not sure why but you two write so alike that I just assumed it was the same person initially. I didnt think that that person was trying to trick anyone. I just thought that Nevermore used to like to change his name to Minus from time to time. yea.. I hope you both are great though. And sorry for mixing you all up.

@Nevermore- Have kids! That signature sounds a bit sad. Why kill something after billions of years...something has to be here for a reason if it's been here for that long. Also botany sounds nice.

Oh and I didnt mean a reason.. like the meaning of like. I just mean.. you.. your cells must have qualities that fit to the world.. so dont kill you... your cells.. you lineage.
 
For some reason that wouldn't make sense to anyone i tended to group NeverMore and Antihero, even though i understood that they were different.

I don't see it myself, but i will take writing like NeverMore as a complement.
 
jales said:
you know minus and nevermore always seemed like the same person. I used to mix you two up in the beginning. Not sure why but you two write so alike that I just assumed it was the same person initially. I didnt think that that person was trying to trick anyone. I just thought that Nevermore used to like to change his name to Minus from time to time. yea.. I hope you both are great though. And sorry for mixing you all up.

@Nevermore- Have kids! That signature sounds a bit sad. Why kill something after billions of years...something has to be here for a reason if it's been here for that long. Also botany sounds nice.

Oh and I didnt mean a reason.. like the meaning of like. I just mean.. you.. your cells must have qualities that fit to the world.. so dont kill you... your cells.. you lineage.

Ah, you two are too kind!

As for me having kids, well.... I think I have a tad bit too many issues to even consider getting into a relationship let alone have kids but who knows maybe one day, or maybe I'll adopt... Forget my genes I don't want to be a slave to them anyway :p
 
It might be another year before "lost in the oilfied" reads this, but it will be waiting for you. I may bore people with my rhetoric listed below, so the bottom line is this:

Could it be the great meaning of life is to LIVE your life? If so, I have failed thus far. As I continue to think about it, life only has meaning if you impact someone. A person can have a lot of knowledge, written down somewhere or in their head, but if it is not shared, does it really matter or count?

Along my way in life, there have been a handful of words that have spoken to me and I have clung to them like a jewel. Most recently, "an eye for an eye would leave the world blind". Another? "A halo just has to slip a few inches to become a noose".

I have found I have spent a lot of time rationalizing and organizing life events (past or present) in order for life to make sense. It adds comfort to know others have tread in our paths. But no amount of understanding can take the place of living, I am beginning to realize. I haven't spent quality time such as yourself studying the great philosophers of ancient times, but I have and still do much contemplation. But I tell you, everytime I run into someone who is juggling alot of things, dropping a few, but enjoying, laughing, loving, and living their life, it stops me in my tracks. But for all my contemplation and organizing "the great meaning of life", they are actively participating in LIVING their life.

Could it be the great meaning of life is to LIVE your life? If so, I have failed thus far. Because, who is best to judge if your life has meaning? Your life only has meaning if it impacts someone. But what if you are in a situation where you give and give, but it is never acknowledged? Does it mean you don't count? We have to feel we have made a difference in life, and beleive it, in order to participate in life.

I want to make a difference in life but without the drama of dealing with people. Uhmmmm, no wonder I am alone with this kind of attitude. I can't have my cake and eat it too, right?
 

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