Loneliness

[Annihilation]

Many here would probably agree: being alone is fine, perhaps desirable. Being lonely is not. Your mind can devour itself. Yet, being alone - and by extension, lonely - in some respect is a condition of our existence. Without the forest, and a plan for survival, we are in many ways more deprived by things like television and the internet than our far "worse-off" forebears ever were.

What does solitude mean to you?

[crow]

Freedom.

[aquarius]

I used to feel in complete isolation from the world and that this was a bad thing. People are having fun and connecting up with other like-minded people, it would happen all around me, instinctively I wanted the same (as any human does) but how can one do this if your headspace has (d-)evolved to an extent where there are none of your likeness.

I still don't know the answer to this but I know it's different for everyone and that there isn't an easy answer.

When I finally broke out of this negative space I felt safe asthough floating in a serene little bubble in a sea of insane and broken souls. I then invited a lovely lady/soul-mate into the bubble to share the journey with me and soon the world beyond that bubble mattered less and less.

I also snapped my phone in half and self-restricted i-net usage to 2-3 days a week.

[Dinaric Leather]

I'm going to be honest, I've felt lonely on a spiritual for most of my life. Even though I actually have a rather wide social circle and have a handful of good friends I feel like no-one I know sees the world like I do, shares my standards of morality, or reveres life in the same way I do. It depresses me to no end. If I had a single wish, it would be to live in a small town full of people who at least share my cultural values, even if they aren't neccesarily all 120+ IQ.

[MahaVindex]

Freedom.

[MahaVindex]

Why feel lonely? Perhaps it's just a result of having to rely on being so social. You were born alone and will die alone and besides most people you come in contact with are just faces and voices, no real connection. There is a certain beauty and purity in solitude that is very often over looked or neglected by most people.

[diesel]

the problem is competition urges.
if you really want to be alone it will still be hard to see people even as you just go to the grocery store. you'll feel inferior
this is why many real hermits move, I guess. The woods are the best place. You feel at peace with passing on, going back to nature like all things.

[Annihilation]

Why feel lonely? Perhaps it's just a result of having to rely on being so social. You were born alone and will die alone and besides most people you come in contact with are just faces and voices, no real connection. There is a certain beauty and purity in solitude that is very often over looked or neglected by most people.

As alluded to in the OP, I think solitary time in nature can be the opposite of loneliness, at least for a time. Eventually there is a need for or benefit from human interaction. crow's (and others') posting on this forum attests to that.

[crow]

Today I am lonely. Not in the usual sense, for I have more than enough quality company.
But today I lost the most amazingly awesome cat I've ever known.
A large female Maine Coon, otherwise known as a Norwegian Forest Cat, who wandered in from the woods about five years ago.
I feel sick at heart; my heart is intolerably heavy. This is awful.
My wife, too, is in a real state.

It must have been poison, to go from a strapping specimen, overfilled with vigor, to dead, in under two days.
I assume she's dead: she was at death's door last night, and was gone in the morning, having chosen to find somewhere quiet, outdoors, to die. I searched all day, but nothing. No sign.

Well. We'll get over it, I'm sure, although it may take a while.
I don't feel much, really, when humans die. But somehow this is very different.
It's definitely empty, and lonely.

Goodbye Lily. Thank you for the love you gave us. You beautiful, rough, tough, monster.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26554770@N08/9037210939/

[Phoenix]

A person cannot exist without interaction among others, but the required extent of this interaction varies. If you don't need more friends or you cannot find more friends of quality, then that's how it is. If you do need more friends and you can find more friends of quality, then all the better. The feeling of loneliness by itself is neither good nor bad, and never defines one's person.

[Corpse]

I'm going to be honest, I've felt lonely on a spiritual for most of my life. Even though I actually have a rather wide social circle and have a handful of good friends I feel like no-one I know sees the world like I do, shares my standards of morality, or reveres life in the same way I do. It depresses me to no end. If I had a single wish, it would be to live in a small town full of people who at least share my cultural values, even if they aren't neccesarily all 120+ IQ.

I agree with this, more or less.

[Ratatosk]

Today I am lonely. Not in the usual sense, for I have more than enough quality company.
But today I lost the most amazingly awesome cat I've ever known.
A large female Maine Coon, otherwise known as a Norwegian Forest Cat, who wandered in from the woods about five years ago.
I feel sick at heart; my heart is intolerably heavy. This is awful.
My wife, too, is in a real state.

It must have been poison, to go from a strapping specimen, overfilled with vigor, to dead, in under two days.
I assume she's dead: she was at death's door last night, and was gone in the morning, having chosen to find somewhere quiet, outdoors, to die. I searched all day, but nothing. No sign.

Well. We'll get over it, I'm sure, although it may take a while.
I don't feel much, really, when humans die. But somehow this is very different.
It's definitely empty, and lonely.

Goodbye Lily. Thank you for the love you gave us. You beautiful, rough, tough, monster.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26554770@N08/9037210939/

Losing an animal can hit you in a weird way, as there is no real accepted way to deal with that kind of grief. My condolences brother.

[lost_wanderer]

what's great with loving an animal, is that it's not base on ego. It's the presence that matters. The animal doesn't care about your life, your opinions, your spirituality, your social circle etc.

it's a special relationship. On some level it's more distant than with other humans, on others, it's closer.

[MahaVindex]

Today I am lonely. Not in the usual sense, for I have more than enough quality company.
But today I lost the most amazingly awesome cat I've ever known.
A large female Maine Coon, otherwise known as a Norwegian Forest Cat, who wandered in from the woods about five years ago.
I feel sick at heart; my heart is intolerably heavy. This is awful.
My wife, too, is in a real state.

It must have been poison, to go from a strapping specimen, overfilled with vigor, to dead, in under two days.
I assume she's dead: she was at death's door last night, and was gone in the morning, having chosen to find somewhere quiet, outdoors, to die. I searched all day, but nothing. No sign.

Well. We'll get over it, I'm sure, although it may take a while.
I don't feel much, really, when humans die. But somehow this is very different.
It's definitely empty, and lonely.

Goodbye Lily. Thank you for the love you gave us. You beautiful, rough, tough, monster.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26554770@N08/9037210939/

Why don't you feel much when people die?

[crow]

Who knows?
Perhaps it's because there are seven billion of them, and none are my friends or family or tribe.
Lily was, without a doubt, my best friend.