general Longing for a stranger

[Creamy Arty 6,251]

Pictures, videos, and stories from a mutual acquaintance can often give us a good understanding of a person we've never met. Their personality, convictions, mannerisms, habits, likes/dislikes, aspirations, etc. Over time it's possible to miss that person's company despite never meeting them.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently but it's something that's come and gone over the years. My girlfriend's mother died several years before we got together so obviously we never met or spoke to each other, but the stories I've heard and the pictures I've seen make me feel like I do know her and wish we could hang out again. From what I've been told, I can see a lot of this woman in her daughter, yet I feel like there's a part of her daughter that I'll never get to meet either.

Can anybody else relate? Does anybody know a word for this feeling?

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

I do relate to this to a certain extent. I have a friend I've known for the past 4-5 years and only have we talked online. Even though they are a state away, it feels like we've known each other irl.

It's a strange feeling indeed but I can't not agree with people who say the internet makes people anti-social. If used correctly, the internet can be used to keep in touch with friends who have moved other places in the world and can keep a friendship going for years on end. Plus, the internet is also a tool used to help people gather into a convention or some sort of meetup where you can meet people irl.

[They call me Loyalty 1,941]

It's usually the other way around, being able to meet ancestors through their descendants.

Their personality, mannerisms, mentality, beliefs, biases, mental condition and diseases among other chronic characteristics echo inside yet another projection.

It's like when others recognize the behaviours I share with my father, despite having  never meeting him myself. I'm a projection of his being, the same way he's a projection of mine, same applies to my mother, and all those who belong to this genealogy.

When certain state of awareness is achieved, it goes beyond family.

Once another degree of consciousness is reached, one starts finding everything in everything, and oneself in all things. The sky, a raging sea, the one who harms one, the one who loves one. The stars and the space between them.

There's a beautiful familiarity in all things, like seeing yourself in everything.

Know yourself, and you'll know her.