A slightly weird question

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It really bothers me when I meet a new person. For me it's a scary thought to think that this person has existed for two-three decades, or however long, and I don't know anything about what they've been doing during that entire time. I mean, for some reason the idea that they have led a separate existence from mine for so long when I've just met them is disturbing. Which is why I prefer to be around people I've known since I was a little kid. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

While new people are problematic for me [I need to evaluate their threat potential, test if they are friend material, and ease them into my world without shattering the tower of cards], it has never been on that basis.

This is a contradiction and you must find a way out.

You are suspicious of someone you don't know because there is a chance that he might be a bad person, what are the odds?
If you know someone's life, what are the odds you will guess what the person is really thinking, or even more challenging, what are the odds you can predict his behavior?
Should you be more suspicious of older people? And less suspicious of younger people?
The older you get, the less likely is the opportunity for you to make relations with people?

Just carry on asking questions, you will find the important one and it will be simple to respond

not in that way, i do get the same feeling you do though, that sudden appearance of a whole existence in front of you, that you never suspected, and you try to put the pieces together by observing them, but it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. it makes me silent though. i can't really start talking until i at least learn about the basics of the person. not his life, but the way they view life. actually i don't start talking until i know there is no threat of getting attached to someone who would reveal themselves to be a despicable human being in the future.

This is not really about suspicion, I think. I believe the contradiction is more along the lines of, this person could not have existed for such a long time because I've only just encountered them. I know it doesn't make sense logically, but that's how I feel, and maybe that's what disturbs me.

Yes, something like that. Only in my case it's not really about the perceived threat from the person.

Maybe this is like a bit of dread over now having to deal with even more of a world we do not understand?

Then there is a gravity conflict between your conscious and the universe

But I do feel like you, my own mind is even going to question the existence of my own body

My first thought based on your description was the phrase, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest

It's a philosophical riddle about unperceived existence. Does this seem right to you?

No, I view all strangers as equal... best give them a chance and be suspicious of them at the same time until you can draw conclusions about them

Yes, that seems about right. I did know about the riddle, of course, but I never made the connection before. Thanks.

Yes, absolutely -- I totally get this. And I feel exactly the same way sometimes. It's just a weird, creepy feeling -- very hard to describe. The first time I experienced something like this -- probably when I was in my late-teens or early-20s -- there was a little different spin on it, though. It was in the context of the realization that, "unless I marry someone 20 years younger than I am, my future wife is alive and out there somewhere right now; she's living an independent life without me; and in some very vague sense, she's actually looking for me right now." That absolutely freaked me out!

Wow! That sounds so much like me! Maybe we should get together and creep the hell out of each other sometime...

It doesn't really freak me out, maybe because I've lived in very densely populated places but when I was little I believed that people came in and out of existence when they came into my awareness. There's a word for it, but I don't remember it.

i see things in that way most of the time.
quick question off the subject. i'm quite new at writting on a BB and i still can't figure out how to put someone else's post in mine so i can respond. is it just copy and past? Please help.

Click on the "quote" button in the upper right area of the post.