Connection to the Past

[Nowhere Man]

I don't know how to explain this, bit I will try. For the first half of my life I kind of felt like I belonged in a different time period. My two favorite movies are " Last of the Mohichans" and "Dances With Wolves". Every time I watch those movies I feel like I can place myself in that time period.so, it kind of fella like I should have been born then and not now. I feel more comfortable thinking of myself living in those times, rather than now. The problem is, in recent times, say the past 6-8 years I feel less attached to that era as I did growing up. Now I don't really believe in reincarnation, but at the same time, my feelings were real, so what does it all mean? Coencidentaly, whe Mohichans was filmed was about an hour from where I grew up. I did not know that until a few years later, yet I still felt a connection to the land.

I feel with expanding globalization and tech., we are losing the connection to simpler times. This is why maybe I don't feel the same as I did years ago.

Anyone understand and maybe feel the same way?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I only have to think about how hard housework must have been back then and it cures me of any desire of wanting to live in any era before washing machines, vacuum cleaners and indoor plumbing.

 

[Nowhere Man]

True, but you must have seen some movie or documentary where you thought to belonged there. At least you felt like humanity is losing some aspect of the way things were?

I kind of relate it to when the native Americans were Americanized sand lost their culture.

 

[scotpens]

I, too, often feel that I was born in the wrong time — at least two or three centuries too early. I should be out there in space with Captain Kirk.

(Of course, people often tell me I am out there in space with Captain Kirk.)

It’s quite common to romanticize the past. Simpler times, a stronger connection to nature and the earth, all that stuff.

To put it plainly: Compared with what we take for granted today, life 100 or more years ago sucked.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Wishing to live in a slightly romanticized version of the past is all well and good, as long as you realize that what we gain from technology in the real here and now far surpasses what we might lose. After all, life without indoor plumbing, central air conditioning and the like would not suit me at all.

Personally, however, if there's a romanticized past that I'd love to live in, it would be Colonial Times. Films like Last of the Mohicans and The Crucible really make that idealized world look quite lovely.

 

[Miss Chicken]

True, but you must have seen some movie or documentary where you thought to belonged there. At least you felt like humanity is losing some aspect of the way things were?

The only movie place I would like to belong to is The Shire of Middle Earth and that, of course, has never existed.

Though, like scotspen, I might like to live in certain futures.

 

[Holdfast]

I only have to think about how hard housework must have been back then and it cures me of any desire of wanting to live in any era before washing machines, vacuum cleaners and indoor plumbing.

Yeah, but in the old days, there were more (and cheaper) staff, so it kind of evens out...

I've always had a fondness for Imperial Rome. Of course, I'd have to be guaranteed a similar (or preferably higher) socioeconomic niche to the present to tolerate it; the variation in quality of life was much greater then. But given that, yeah, I wouldn't mind a sabbatical in Imperial Rome. Preferably around the time of Trajan or Hadrian.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I have visualized myself in past eras many times, and have often felt that I was born in the wrong time period. I care little about the future but am extremely curious about the past (I'm ambivalent about the present). This is why I studied history in college and grad school and I have trained to become an archivist of historical documents.

 

[sojourner]

Films like Last of the Mohicans and The Crucible really make that idealized world look quite lovely.

Not sure if serious....


I wouldn't have minded living through the 50's and 60's. It was just such a great "can do" period.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I always felt that I was born about a thousand years too early; I definitely belong in the future. That's why I need to live a long time.

However, I do feel an affinity to certain past eras and particular civilizations. Ancient Greece and Minos, for example; but I wouldn't necessarily like to live back then, but rather in futurized versions of those civilizations (when I was a kid, idyllic futures were often variations of ancient Greece and the like). I also like the 1920s a lot, because it was a renaissance decade like the 60s. But, overall, I have the greatest affinity for the Colonial and Revolutionary Era; I would not at all mind living in a community based on those times.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Films like Last of the Mohicans and The Crucible really make that idealized world look quite lovely.

Not sure if serious....

Well, I could do without the wars, racism, religious hypocrisy and barbarity those movies show, but they also show a sense of individualism and living off the sweat of your own brow while still having a deep connection with your neighbors. That's what I was referring to.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Sorry, puritan New England was an area of paranoia and judgmentalism. It's all the worst qualities of small town life imaginable. You have no privacy. You are expected to conform absolutely. And differing views are met with quite literally severe punishment. In addition, you are taught a doctrine that separates the special from the non-special and led to believe that you are going to hell if you don't get the religious experience putting you in the special category. Whatever sense of accomplishment you got from your (backbreaking) labor is offset by this crap.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Very true. Which is why I (and probably most) would really rather live in an idealized, or futurized, version of the past instead of the real thing. The familiar taking the form of the past. Like The Flinstones.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Sorry, puritan New England was an area of paranoia and judgmentalism. It's all the worst qualities of small town life imaginable. You have no privacy. You are expected to conform absolutely. And differing views are met with quite literally severe punishment. In addition, you are taught a doctrine that separates the special from the non-special and led to believe that you are going to hell if you don't get the religious experience putting you in the special category. Whatever sense of accomplishment you got from your (backbreaking) labor is offset by this crap.

Yeah, that's why I said I could do without all that hypocritical bullshit. I would, however, love to live in an idealized version of that past without it.

 

[HighteeHeller]

In my early teens i read anything i could get my hands on about the middle ages, but mostly the King Arthur legends. I fantasized about living in that time period, and the belief in reincarnation made me certain i lived back then.

Now, not so much. Though i still do enjoy reading the Mary Stewart series as a reminder of my youth.

 

[auntiehill]

To hell with the past and the future. My own bizarre, little fantasy world trumps them all.

 

[Capn Flukie]

Personally, however, if there's a romanticized past that I'd love to live in, it would be Colonial Times. Films like Last of the Mohicans and The Crucible really make that idealized world look quite lovely.

Speaking as someone with Mohawk heritage, I'm glad I don't live in those times.

 

[scotpens]

. . . However, I do feel an affinity to certain past eras and particular civilizations. Ancient Greece and Minos, for example; but I wouldn’t necessarily like to live back then, but rather in futurized versions of those civilizations (when I was a kid, idyllic futures were often variations of ancient Greece and the like).

What goes around, comes around.

I also like the 1920s a lot, because it was a renaissance decade like the 60s.

And the babes were awesome.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Perhaps I am yearning for a modern colonial time then. I want the closer connection to nature, but with all of the tech. I guess the best way I see it is how Earth is potrayed in the TNG/DS9/VOY era. In Trek we see a future where cities have nature integrated into the city and people are owning small businesses. They are working for themselves. I guess I want to see a world simular to that. We have seperated ourselves from nature rather than living in harmony with it. I guss that's why I like "Dances With Wolves" so much. We see a story of kind of what if instead of just taking over the Indians land and almost completely wiping them out, instead tried to live amongst them. That's what Dunbar does in the movie.

I also want to be able to go to somewhere like Yosemite where I can camp out in the middle of knowhere, yet still have my iphone and do face time. Not so much that I cant live without it, but just be able to have the best of both worlds.

I guess thgis is why it's shitty that time travel is impossible. I could travel to any time I want, but still have all of the comforts of home. I know, cell phones wouldn't work in the past, my time machine would be able to make it work somehow.

Anyway, I just feel humanity has lost a bit of itself and I think it's goingf to have go through some changes before we reach harmony again. If we ever had it to begin with.

 

[scotpens]

. . .Anyway, I just feel humanity has lost a bit of itself and I think it's going to have go through some changes before we reach harmony again. If we ever had it to begin with.

Just remember one thing: The good old days weren't always good. And tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.