j1b Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 No doubt about the fact that I am a different personality type! J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Jake DiVita wrote: "Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on Earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become." Gee... I always wondered what I'd look like with 6 pack abs. LOL! I think everyone goes through their own little private version of Hell on earth, sometimes long before they die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 FWIW, Jake.... I got exactly what you meant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 1 Procedural for a circular argument nope. What one could have become is NEVER what one has chosen to be. no circles only branches, best seen in a reverse glass.(mirror) this is a line from a song, I sing it when I 'regret'.... a bad day is when I lie in bed and think of things that might 'a' been. my hell will be different, I did my best to decide who and what I became based on my best abilities. I admit I have always wanted a better crystal ball.... miranda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Dave, I'm sure you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I understood it, Jake, though I'm not sure it fits my idea of Hell. When I think about it, I'm not too worried about meeting the man I could have been. I would hope he'd be a good guy and one I would not only wish to be, but one who would embrace me as a friend, however deeply flawed I am. What I'm hoping is none of us has to meet up with the person we might have been if we hadn't cared enough to at least occasionally choose the better of the options presented to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisStock Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Jake, that would never keep me up at night... too circuitous a route to get where I am. Interesting thought nonetheless. I think we tend to make what choices we think will help us out the most at the time. If you spend too much time looking back, you're wasting the new view in front of you. Miranda:Slip Slidin' Away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 yeah the line is from that Paul Simon song. I use it to remind myself not to spend too much time looking at what could have been. That is a guaranteed bad day. or as Jake points out, a day with a lot of hell strapped to it. I could been a great .... pilot, racer, surgeon, novelist, dad cabdriver, machinist, engineer, toy maker, it is a long list.... I can be in hell anytime I want.... miranda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Wow - a lot of you guys get something totally different from it than I do. It isn't about looking back, it isn't about regret, it isn't about "living in hell." It's about putting the present and the future in perspective. It's about taking a hard look at yourself and changing your course if where you are going maybe isn't where you want to be. We all had dreams as kids, maybe you wanted to be a pilot, a musician, or a poet - but life got in the way and now you're doing something that maybe you aren't 100% happy with. This quote reminds me to live my life on my terms more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 In addition... I also get, do things with the quality and skill that you'd like to able to look back and say that you did the absolute best that you really could, given the situation and the resources you had at hand. Life has a way of throwing tremendous curve balls, and our needs and wants change through the years, and there's nothing wrong with that. The last thing I want to do, though, is get to the end of my years and reflect back that instead of going out there and giving it my all, I sat on the couch and made excuses about what I could have done. Rather, I'd like to be able to say that I went out there and gave it everything I had to throw at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Hi Jake, mmmmmm I see a lot of posts that agree with you. Even mine is in agreement. Your definition of hell is valid. I can't imagine a worse situation. What I also see it that the exact same situation is heaven if what you could have been (all other paths except the one you picked) lead to your being some one you would never have wanted to be. "There, but for the grace of Good. go I..." The reason a lot of guys, including me, use the word regret ? Your Hell is based on all that the word regret means There is no pit in hell deeper or harder to climb out than the one with the with the sign "regret" over it. Knowing how good the choices you did not pick were, could be very painful. And on the flip-side of the same coin, knowing the results of how bad the choices you didn't make were, could also be very joyful. v Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Knight Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I don't care who I could have become, I care about who I am. I don't see that as hell, I see it as temptation. I plan on being very, very happy with who I have become. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ki4dmh Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 I was actually just thinking that it's pretty interesting how different personality types perceive this quote. Makes you think doesn't it. Wow Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugh Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 To me,It is not about "failure"-It is about not trying. The "you"who... settled,so to speak,meets the "you"who lived a life devoted to excellence(however you define that) It's cautionary...neither warning nor threat. imvho, Hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 Does this mean our goal should be that on our last day on earth there is no one else for us to meet. We did all we could with the what we were given. That would indeed be a job well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Is hell endo or exothermic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Is hell endo or exothermic? Exothermic Later, Chuck more here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Since this seems to be philosophical, why would you assume that the person that you failed to become is desirable? I agree. I immediately thought of the loser possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 ""Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on Earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become."" Seems like a freakin' guilt trip to me. What we should do here in Life is take advantage of every moment, whether playing or working and feel a mellow sense of satisfaction about SOMETHING each day... and then we can say we took advantage of the moment and wasted no time in feeling regrets. "Regret" is the hell he's talking about here. Just take advantage of each day and you'll leave the mortal coil without regret or guilt and everything will be cool.A distant-past friend of mine had a nervous breakdown at one point in time, and when he finally recovered he said the thing that triggered the collapse was realizing he'd quit seeing something TO LOOK FORWARD TO each day. When those little things disappeared, then HOPE disappeared--along with his sanity. I took his words to heart. We create our own little "look forward to's" each day all on our own. They get rid of regrets and they fill the void and ultimately rid our souls of guilt. Plan to make the most of each day. It's what free will is about. There is no guilt unless we generate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted May 13, 2008 Author Share Posted May 13, 2008 Regret is absolutely not the Hell I was talking about when I posted this. In point of fact I think the omission of the word regret in the original statement is very purposefully done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmanfixit Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I have sort of thought of it in the movie making perspective. If it's true, as I've heard now and again, that you see your life pass before your eyes at the end, then it can be thought of as a film and YOU are the editor. Moment to moment, you make editing decisions about what's going to be in your movie on the last day and what's on the cutting room floor. It's good to ask yourself a question now and then regarding the script and the editorial policy. At the end will I want to see this film more than once? Or, will I squirm in my seat eyes covered with my hands, peeking out occasionally through the narrow crack between my clenched fingers saying "Oh No not that again!!" In my own case, my skill at the first part of my movie was a little short, but hey, I was a kid it was confusing. The general theme now is "Wow that was a kick in the ass, lets do it again!" I kind of like movies. Bad ones are Hell! "Hey Hey Hey now, don't be mean, don't be mean. Remember, NO Matter where you go, there you are!" Buckaroo Bonzai- Into the Eighth Dimension Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Front Man Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I don't think so. If it is something you couldn't have I don't think it would have as bad of an effect on you as something you could have had if you tried. TRIED? I didn't think we were supposed to do that? Good thread! FM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 That is very deep, and for the first 10 seconds That Idea was scary.But ... I am lucky in that my Father is a borderline Genesis IQ =Very good with math = Designed Rotor heads for helicopters etc. etc. I watched him shoot rabbits on the run with a 22 and can rarely remember him miss with any type firearm. I never saw him miss with a shotgun and he always waited for me to shoot first, If I could get a shot. Any way He made it easy to learn to happy, even when I realized I would never be as smart or as skilled as he is. He did not allow me to use the word ..Hate. Wow, sounds alot like my Father. I guess it depends on how much of your life you have reconciled mentally and found peace with. There will always be those times, for some more than others, where you will wonder or wish for the what ifs or shouldas. It is at that time I try and say breath and learn and do better next time. But don't dwell on those things which we cannot control. Otherwise, when you meet that guy you will do so a broken soul. Just my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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