Nightlion Comments Split From Sean Carroll Thread

[_Nightlion]

I have had the most miserable life one could imagine. Not for lack of health or even wealth. I have been friendless forty-seven years. Everything I have created has spoiled in the rot of apathy from everyone else. Like a big tease, my gifts are immense and bountiful, yielding much joy in the process of cultivation, yet without exception, there is no sharing.

A LIFE OF THE BLANK STARE

Just yesterday I was given to know why this is so. Turns out that God wills it. Since I am also that rarity of true saint upon this earth, I need to be treasured above all else, kept for His purposes. This means that if ever I had succeeded in my talents and made a mark in the world and had a trove of friends and glad handing sycophants the distraction and business of it all would have prevented God from drawing me to his service from time to time, about that which matters infinately more.

Having devoted myself to the rule of God in my life, this my subjection will not allow me to resent being handled so miserably. The singular joy of knowing God covers all.

And then there is the consolation of having served God in unimaginable ways over the years. Those few times when the Lord has made use of me are far more fantastic than anything I might have invented myself. And they are and were of greater value to mankind than my own talents could ever be.

The meaning of my life is to know God and to have whatever work he has for me to do.

[_Gadianton]

I need to be treasured above all else

Most people who feel this way have a difficult time making friends. The other side of the coin, those with successful (as opposed to failed attempts at) cult of personality, with money or fame or some kind of social power, while treasured by sycophants, find themselves short on actual friendship. This may not matter for many, but if it does matter, the point needs to be made that friendship is a two-way street.

I'm not the best example of a person with many friends, but I do pay attention, and those who do have a real knack for making friends always want to be around other people, get lonely easy, and have a sincere, natural curiosity about others. They seem to be equally in interested telling their own stories as hearing what others have to say.

I would dare say that if a person doesn't have a serious, nearly unquenchable need to be around others, to listen to others and learn about what others are thinking and doing, then such a person probably mistakes a need for friendship with something else.