[concentric]

I don't know if it's the hangover or what (Xmas party season, how tiring) but this thread is making me think a lot about the quote: "we live as we [die], alone" (to paraphrase Joseph Conrad) and whether or not that's true.

While I understand the existential basis for the modern concept of the alienated self, I think when you start looking at how people interact, the systems of influence that are created through human interaction, I think that I'm never alone. A good visual metaphor would be a candle between two mirrors. An experience (the flame) reflected and shared by people will carry on into an apparent infinity, while the sum of its parts shine brighter into the room beyond.

I'd like to think that at the moment of death, when my life is weighed, summed, and measured, that I'd take stock of those people who have formed my life and praise them for what they've given me.