What's your biggest fear?

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

13 hours ago, pinkpatrol said:

That my sleep paralysis demon will finally drag me to hell one of these nights. 

I still shudder when I think of a movie about people with sleep terrors that I saw a long time ago. (shivers)

[Maitimo]

Honestly my biggest fear right now is of a no-deal Brexit, and it's looking impossible for it to be anything else right now.  We're headed on a spiral to becoming a third-world country and I am left wondering whether we will be able to find affordable food a year from now? Will we still have our jobs? Will we still have our homes? It's terrifying.  I think the United Kingdom will cease to exist within what's left of my lifetime; there's no way that Scotland will stand for it and they will surely have another referendum and go independent; I think Wales and Northern Ireland will follow, and leave the rest of us in England digging around in the mud for roots.

[Amina Sopwith]

24 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

I think the United Kingdom will cease to exist within what's left of my lifetime; there's no way that Scotland will stand for it and they will surely have another referendum and go independent; I think Wales and Northern Ireland will follow, and leave the rest of us in England digging around in the mud for roots.

I can't believe this hasn't happened already. It was my first thought after that damned effing s***ting fraudulent corrupt referendum.

I also experience sleep paralysis regularly but I swear an actual incubus couldn't scare me more than Boris Johnson does right now. 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

That I will die alone, and unloved, sucked finally into an existential void that confirms the meaninglessness of everything I've ever done or said.

 

LOL, just joking.

Silverfish. I really hate silverfish. Ugh.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

21 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

Honestly my biggest fear right now is of a no-deal Brexit, and it's looking impossible for it to be anything else right now.  We're headed on a spiral to becoming a third-world country and I am left wondering whether we will be able to find affordable food a year from now? Will we still have our jobs? Will we still have our homes? It's terrifying.  I think the United Kingdom will cease to exist within what's left of my lifetime; there's no way that Scotland will stand for it and they will surely have another referendum and go independent; I think Wales and Northern Ireland will follow, and leave the rest of us in England digging around in the mud for roots.

My country and your Kingdom are both run by narcissistic sociopaths, sadly. I wish you the best, but don't have a lot of hope for the future, either.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

That I will live longer than I want. But worries about the future of human society occupies most of my thoughts these days.

Oh, and spiders and ticks (shivers). And snakes. (shivers some more)

Edited August 5, 2019 by Caerolle Llewellyn
add spiders, which are yucky!!!!!!

[Rolig Loon]

4 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

That I will die alone, and unloved, sucked finally into an existential void that confirms the meaninglessness of everything I've ever done or said.

That is a succinct (and more frightening) restatement of the fear that I voiced earlier today ^^  .  I hope that we are both wrong.

[Amina Sopwith]

41 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

Honestly my biggest fear right now is of a no-deal Brexit, and it's looking impossible for it to be anything else right now.  We're headed on a spiral to becoming a third-world country and I am left wondering whether we will be able to find affordable food a year from now? Will we still have our jobs? Will we still have our homes? It's terrifying.  I think the United Kingdom will cease to exist within what's left of my lifetime; there's no way that Scotland will stand for it and they will surely have another referendum and go independent; I think Wales and Northern Ireland will follow, and leave the rest of us in England digging around in the mud for roots.

 

19 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

My country and your Kingdom are both run by narcissistic sociopaths, sadly. I wish you the best, but don't have a lot of hope for the future, either.

 

Oh my God. This is audacious, but could it work?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/05/government-national-unity-no-deal-margaret-beckett-referendum?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR1H2Pqyfpef-iYHYu_r7J5CZYobmqNKkLbZ_d0UQlayVRjCtAHv4XjppWU

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

6 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

Oh my God. This is audacious, but could it work?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/05/government-national-unity-no-deal-margaret-beckett-referendum?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR1H2Pqyfpef-iYHYu_r7J5CZYobmqNKkLbZ_d0UQlayVRjCtAHv4XjppWU

I treasure the Guardian, read several posts from it a day, but to me what is being proposed here is dreamland, sort of like the Hamilton Electors back in 2016 in the US (sorry if that is too obscure!). OTOH, I am sure I know only a tiny bit about the Brexit situation and British politics in general compared with people who live there and are engaged (I imagine you have your low-information voters, too?), so hopefully I wrong about how hopeless the situation is and how relentless is the momentum toward the abyss.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

4 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

That is a succinct (and more frightening) restatement of the fear that I voiced earlier today ^^  .  I hope that we are both wrong.

I'm actually sort of reconciled to the fact that I'm not. At least, not in the long term.

But I think that pain, and heartbreak, and sadness -- but also joy and love -- are very real because we feel their reality all the time. Time may erase all memory of all of those things, but it can't stop the reality of what it feels to be alive while one actually is alive.

I was, when I was a teen, really profoundly influenced by Camus' The Plague (which, I am deeply ashamed to admit, I read in translation), and most especially by Dr. Rieux, who sees no "meaning" to his fight against the disease beyond the alleviation of suffering and pain. He's not heroic, he doesn't have "an answer": he just doesn't want to see people suffer.

I'm pretty good with that as an overall philosophy, actually.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

16 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Silverfish. I really hate silverfish. Ugh.

You are Evil, EEEE-VILLLL, I say! I had not thought of silverfish in years (or cockroaches), and now here I am, with them running through my head!!!!! 

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

19 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

That I will die alone, and unloved, sucked finally into an existential void that confirms the meaninglessness of everything I've ever done or said.

To me, this is not possible. Though during my worst periods of depression and despair I am an existential nihilist, most naturally align with a Buddhist perspective.

[kali Wylder]

13 hours ago, Pixie Kobichenko said:

Whether my son will be okay once I am gone.

I have a daughter who is on the Autism Spectrum and is utterly dependent on me.  My biggest fear is what will happen to her if I'm gone before I've got her to a place where she'll be OK.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

Just now, kali Wylder said:

I have a daughter who is on the Autism Spectrum and is utterly dependent on me.  My biggest fear is what will happen to her if I'm gone before I've got her to a place where she'll be OK.

My RL sister is in the same situation. I wish you and your daughter the best, for what little good it will actually do. (huggzzzz)

[Amina Sopwith]

34 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

But I think that pain, and heartbreak, and sadness -- but also joy and love -- are very real because we feel their reality all the time. Time may erase all memory of all of those things, but it can't stop the reality of what it feels to be alive while one actually is alive.

From the Joyce Grenfell poem:

There is no such thing as time 

Only this very minute.

And I'm in it.

Thank the Lord.

[Rolig Loon]

5 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I think that pain, and heartbreak, and sadness -- but also joy and love -- are very real because we feel their reality all the time. Time may erase all memory of all of those things, but it can't stop the reality of what it feels to be alive while one actually is alive.

I was, when I was a teen, really profoundly influenced by Camus' The Plague (which, I am deeply ashamed to admit, I read in translation), and most especially by Dr. Rieux, who sees no "meaning" to his fight against the disease beyond the alleviation of suffering and pain. He's not heroic, he doesn't have "an answer": he just doesn't want to see people suffer.

I'm pretty good with that as an overall philosophy, actually.

So am I.  Although Camus was the final straw that broke the camel's back and turned me against French literature as an undergraduate, I did enjoy The Plague.  As an educator and scientist, I spent my career focused on the students in front of me and the research problems of the day, rather than seeing myself in the great march of human history. I am reconciled to the reality that the things I have accomplished will be forgotten 100 years from now, because I know that they have made a small difference today.  That said, the irrational side of my head would dearly love to be remembered as long as possible by someone, as I remember my own parents and others who made only the smallest ripples in the march of history.  That's the sadness that runs through my mind as I try to get back to sleep after waking at 3:00 a.m. to pee.

[Selene Gregoire]

31 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

That is a succinct (and more frightening) restatement of the fear that I voiced earlier today ^^  .  I hope that we are both wrong.

Chances are you are wrong for yourself. 

There is no doubt in my mind that I will die alone and unloved. The only part that hasn't happened yet is the dying.

[Amina Sopwith]

14 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

There is no doubt in my mind that I will die alone and unloved. 

Forgive me...my understanding was that you have an RL partner?

I don't know you, of course, but from your posts you certainly seem to have had an eventful life so far. I can't believe that you've touched nobody along the way.

[FairreLilette]

1 hour ago, Matty Luminos said:

Honestly my biggest fear right now is of a no-deal Brexit, and it's looking impossible for it to be anything else right now.  We're headed on a spiral to becoming a third-world country and I am left wondering whether we will be able to find affordable food a year from now? Will we still have our jobs? Will we still have our homes? It's terrifying.  I think the United Kingdom will cease to exist within what's left of my lifetime; there's no way that Scotland will stand for it and they will surely have another referendum and go independent; I think Wales and Northern Ireland will follow, and leave the rest of us in England digging around in the mud for roots.

This is the first I've heard of this so I read a very little bit.  I am in Southern California.  La La Land, it's called.  Out to lunch land is kind of more like it.  It's out of touch with reality here.  There is almost no more room for cars on the jammed freeways, and the pollution is horrendous - I thought I needed a gas mask one day as I almost vomited the smell on the street from the car fumes was so bad.  

It sounds like the British Pound Sterling will plummet if this happens at the end of October, and I'd say it will most likely cause a global stock market crash.

However, the rich will be there to buy the Pound Sterling once it's low enough.  Buy low, sell high.

I'm sick and tired of the rich manipulating the stock and currency markets and exploiting us and endangering our lives, too for their riches!  

Edited August 5, 2019 by FairreLilette

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

6 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

So am I.  Although Camus was the final straw that broke the camel's back and turned me against French literature as an undergraduate, I did enjoy The Plague.  As an educator and scientist, I spent my career focused on the students in front of me and the research problems of the day, rather than seeing myself in the great march of human history. I am reconciled to the reality that the things I have accomplished will be forgotten 100 years from now, because I know that they have made a small difference today.  That said, the irrational side of my head would dearly love to be remembered as long as possible by someone, as I remember my own parents and others who made only the smallest ripples in the march of history.  That's the sadness that runs through my mind as I try to get back to sleep after waking at 3:00 a.m. to pee.

All the lives you touched, in your classroom and otherwise, have touched other lives and those lives touched yet other lives. Even though most of us do not have the broad, visible influence that the few famous people do, we do influence all existence, IMO.

And really, if you look at the interpersonal/interbeing level, you probably have had a far more positive influence than many of the people whose work and ideas have shaped human society and history, because a lot of them were horrible parents, friends, or just human beings in general. In fact, a lot of times I avoid learning much about authors or artists I admire because of what I am afraid I will find (I only recently found that one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda, admitted to or even perhaps bragged in his memoirs about raping a hotel maid).

FWIW

[Selene Gregoire]

1 minute ago, Amina Sopwith said:

Forgive me...my understanding was that you have an RL partner?

I don't know you, of course, but from your posts you certainly seem to have had an eventful life so far. I can't believe that you've touched nobody along the way.

Ever been alone in a crowd? Yeah, that. 24/7/365

Whatever I may have accomplished didn't have any lasting effects. No one remembers. No one cares.

 

[Amina Sopwith]

14 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Ever been alone in a crowd? Yeah, that. 24/7/365

Of course, but just because YOU felt lost in the crowd doesn't mean nobody else noticed you were there.

15 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Whatever I may have accomplished didn't have any lasting effects. No one remembers. No one cares.

Perhaps not consciously. Still, I don't believe anyone with the life experience you've had has nothing to show for it, even if you don't see the currency yourself. 

I can't prove this conclusively, of course, but neither can you. I think you and your life have infinite and innate human worth, and you can't stop me. So there.

[Amina Sopwith]

Just glanced at my bookshelves...if you're having an existential crisis, you really must read the short graphic novel Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs. Actually, you need to read it even if you're not having an existential crisis, because like everything Raymond Briggs has done, it's just wonderful. 

[Maitimo]

16 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

This is the first I've heard of this so I read a very little bit.  I am in Southern California.  La La Land, it's called.  Out to lunch land is kind of more like it.  It's out of touch with reality here.  There is almost no more room for cars on the jammed freeways, and the pollution is horrendous - I thought I needed a gas mask one day as I almost vomited the smell on the street from the car fumes was so bad.  

It sounds like the British Pound Sterling will plummet if this happens at the end of October, and I'd say it will most likely cause a global stock market crash.

However, the rich will be there to buy the Pound Sterling once it's low enough.  Buy low, sell high.

I'm sick and tired of the rich manipulating the stock and currency markets and exploiting us and endangering our lives, too for their riches!  

I have a five dollar note which was worth £2.50 a couple of years ago. Today, it's worth £4.20.  By the end of the month it will be worth £6. If I can hang on to it for a year, it might be worth £60.

[Zeta Vandyke]

1 hour ago, Matty Luminos said:

Honestly my biggest fear right now is of a no-deal Brexit, and it's looking impossible for it to be anything else right now.  We're headed on a spiral to becoming a third-world country and I am left wondering whether we will be able to find affordable food a year from now? Will we still have our jobs? Will we still have our homes? It's terrifying.  I think the United Kingdom will cease to exist within what's left of my lifetime; there's no way that Scotland will stand for it and they will surely have another referendum and go independent; I think Wales and Northern Ireland will follow, and leave the rest of us in England digging around in the mud for roots.

Well to be honest, I am quite surprised the Brits are letting those idiots destroy their country like that. The only people we see or hear over here are loud mouth pro brexiteers and politicians. While its pretty obvious by now the Brexit referendum was largely voted by uneducated (on the subject) people who were influenced by these same loud mouth politicians with false information. If there would be a new vote, how big is the chance a brexit would even come close to a win anymore now that people are realizing the *****storm it will bring? Why are all those people just accepting this mess, and not go out on the streets in protest? The future of their country is in the balance, their own future.