If you could start over, would you?

Start life all over again?

  • No.

  • Yep.

  • Other, explain

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Ginny said:
It is said that to a fetus, being born feels like dying. So, perhaps you did and you just don't remember. This last sentence would apply to the theory of rebirth as well.

But you cannot imagine what it feels like to live forever. You may think about it, but eternity is harder to picture than you think.
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I know, I tried. Multiple times. Try imagining Tao. Same result, we can't really imagine that.
Reminds me of the video Powers of Ten. It's really fun watching that. Google Youtube, I am lazy :smile:
 
Headstorm said:
I know, I tried. Multiple times. Try imagining Tao. Same result, we can't really imagine that.
Reminds me of the video Powers of Ten. It's really fun watching that. Google Youtube, I am lazy :smile:
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Googling youtube is for amateurs :P But I'll look 'em up ;) I like taoism.
 
Without knowing the future, no. My life up until now was great, but I already lived it and look forward more now to moving forward.

On the other hand, if I could take my current experience with me into my past and re-live it with new know-how and perspective, that is something I would do in a heartbeat.
 
The Ringmaster said:
On the other hand, if I could take my current experience with me into my past and re-live it with new know-how and perspective, that is something I would do in a heartbeat.
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Would you not be afraid of it preventing you from experiencing the state of marvel in childhood?

This is what I miss the most about being young. I'd be afraid of knowing too much.
 
Building off my original reply to this thread, that age factors in: It's common for people in midlife to assess their lives, acknowledge their lives are "half over", and wish they could go back and change things. The midlife crisis is hilariously unavoidable. It hits everyone in some way or another. If nothing else, it is a time to put our ducks in a row and make sure we complete more life goals.

So, that said, I would go back, but only if I had knowledge about the life I've lived, because if we have zero memory of having lived 20, 30, 40, 50+ years, what's the point? We'd have zero idea we'd been given the chance to live again, over and over. If we have no memory of it, we could argue that we already are being sent back to infancy to live our lives over in an endless loop, ad infinitum.

I like my life, I've had a decent life, and I don't necessarily have "regrets", but HELLZYES I would change things about my life if given the chance. And that, dear young people, is why you should listen to older people when we give advice. We have the experience and perspective, and we can see what you're up to. You cry that you will be different, but chances are you won't be. Get off the fucking Internet, get out of the bar or club, stop fucking off, and go make your goals happen now, now, now. Make sure you're living the life you want, not the life that is convenient, or the "pre-life" before your "real life". Your real life is now.

But of course... you think you have time.

I'd only make two changes, btw: one is about my university choices, and the other is about a personal goal from my childhood and teen years that I am just now fulfilling.
 
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I've certainly pondered this many times. At this or that crossroad what if I had made a different choice. But at the end of the day I am still me. So I would probably do the same things and make the same choices, so what would be the point of doing it all over again.
 
Ren said:
Would you not be afraid of it preventing you from experiencing the state of marvel in childhood?

This is what I miss the most about being young. I'd be afraid of knowing too much.
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I too remember the marvel and wonder of childhood, but it's not something so intoxicating to me that I'd want to live it again. Taking all my current knowledge and experience with me would include that initial wonder, so it would still be there as part of my memories and development even though I wouldn't experience it again. Also, I remember having a lot of fear as a child, that is not something I would want to experience again.
 
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The Ringmaster said:
I too remember the marvel and wonder of childhood, but it's not something so intoxicating to me that I'd want to live it again. Taking all my current knowledge and experience with me would include that initial wonder, so it would still be there as part of my memories and development even though I wouldn't experience it again. Also, I remember having a lot of fear as a child, that is not something I would want to experience again.
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I see. Thanks for sharing your insight! :)
 
I'm not convinced that starting over this life would result in anything wildly different than where I'm at now in this current timeline. I can think of a few things I could have done differently, but those were relatively small things and it's hard to imagine those changes amounting to much. So much of life is incidental- beyond our control, and I can see some of those things making big changes if I had the ability to affect change in those areas. When I saw this thread my mind was thinking more towards reincarnation- different body, different parameters altogether...probably completely different circumstances. Same soul, possibly similar personality, but altogether different life experience. Ironically I had the opportunity to make that choice at the tender age of 7 during a medically induced NDE, but I was too emotionally invested in my family to choose to start over in another lifetime and turn my back on them. I think we're much more connected than we realize while we are here.

I've certainly experienced crisis in my life- not sure if it's the midlife kind, but I'm certainly in that ballpark chronologically speaking. Maybe I'll recognize it when it comes. Maybe not.

Interesting thread...reminds me of time travel scenarios from films.
 
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