Late night existential crisis!

Whenever I hold a coin from my ancient collection, I just feel a part of history that was lost forever except for the chunk of metal that I’m holding, the thoughts of people that used them lost in time, the empires that rose and fell, from the mighty Roman to puny city states. I just feel like I'm owning a coin that was once someone else's, which was again once somebody's, and it'll hopefully be owned by someone else after me. Knowing that our lives would be an insignificant blip after a couple generations. I'm just a temporary care taker for that coin. Makes me wonder about the priorities in my life and why I'm even collecting material things like coins just to satisfy my wish!
I guess enjoy and appreciate the moments whenever we can!
Here’s a coin of someone who left a legacy one can only dream!

*Sigh* just had a rough day.

 

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Having the knowledge that we are just blips on the timeline is good. Thinking you are the end-all-be-all and everything revolves around you is not a healthy way to live.

 

Because coins are beautiful.

 

I'm enjoying my coins as long as I am here on Earth, maybe another 35 years or so.

 

If you wanted the things you do to be eternal, you should've been reincarnated as a planet or something.

We're each just brief ripples in the long stream, but we affect the other ripples, and I choose to believe that the fleeting beauty in those patterns is a worthy goal itself.

 

Not sure what lies ahead, but I would like to meet Alexander. TG. Have you ever thought of trading a portion of days you have left to watch a great Event like Salamis, Three legions lost in 9AD in Germany, Cannae……On and on.

 

I like to think that holding such a coin reminds you of the people and the culture that made it - in a sense keeping them alive but if only in a memory.

 

Jay, another name for Existential Crisis is Reality Check. All young people go through them & sometimes they plague us in the so called "mid-life crisis". I'm not a therapist, but allow me to offer some simple advice; don't dwell on the negative. Make important decisions with an open mind & have no regrets about them later. Be thankful for every morning you wake up & do the best you possibly can. You may not understand why you were brought into this world now, but later you will .

 

We all have bad days. I hope your day is better now ? For me coins let me escape my bad days and good days. Your focus determines your reality. What little thing can you do to improve the quality of your life today ? Peace to you. Coins are different things to every collector. We are much more than just care takers of coins. To me they tell a story. I am fascinated by the history part, thee asthics part, the grade part, the rarity part. Others peoples coins that just make me smile (@panzerman collection of gold coins).

 

Hello Jay,
"herefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. ... This also is vanity and a great evil."
SMILE BE HAPPY,
J.T.

 

Don't underestimate the significance of ancient coins and other, seemingly small things.

I collect ancient coins, and other coins, because it's fun, and spiritual, in a sense. I like thinking about the ghosts of the past, and learning about them.

But I have other hobbies, as well.

I try to have balance, in my life. I spend some time on my long term goals, and I spend some time with friends and family, and I spend some time on having fun.

What happens after death? I don't know. However, I have hope, that there is some sort of purpose, in this world, and life after death. And I'm trying to stay alive, as long as possible. I'm in no hurry to die. Death will come, soon enough, probably.

 

P.S. : I think it's a good thing, to remember, that we are all probably going to die. It reminds me, to set aside some time each day, to work on things, that are important, and to work on things, that have meaning.

 

I feel these gifts from the past are part of our need to learn outside our own experience yet they grab us by their beauty and untold stories. As was said in this posting we are mere caretakers and benefit us by giving us the gift of time travel.

I hope all of you had a great holiday, I certainly did. By the way we are at our time share on the Oregon coast. Of course I had to bring some numismatic material, a box of Arab/Byz with we to do some entry into my spread sheet. Two more entered.

 

We all have bad days but our worst might seem like paradise to the first owner of that coin. I have studied the past for many years and know enough to be glad I was not their first hand.

 

The way I look at it, I'm not just a custodian of these coins. I'm trying to piece together a set that collectively tells a story. It's like the interlocking pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and when I get a group large enough to see a contiguous section of the puzzle, it's breathtaking.

One of my many goals in life is to construct these collections and tell their stories. For millennia, these coins have waited in the muck or in drawers, and now I have the privilege of telling their stories.

To me, that's a pretty cool thing - and way more than a "caretaker."

 

This. The past is fixed, and gone. Stories live. Yes, they're transient -- but they're still important.

 

The physical link in a chain that stretches back to those who lived their lives long before us. You are now, and for a while, a link in that chain.

 

The physical link in a chain that stretches back to those who lived their lives long before us. You are now, and for a while, a link in that chain.

 

"The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful." Henri Poincare

 

Awesome post, @Jay GT4 I’m loving the variety of comments from the forum members. Maybe the past and it’s people are not gone at all. Time might be like a phonograph stylus moving on an LP and when it’s finished the arm moves back to the beginning and starts over again.