The article seemed thoughtful and well-researched. One point in particular caught my eye. Under point # 4 Winch warns that loneliness stigmatizes the lonely. Those that are lonely and their friends are pushed to the edges of social circles.
I am sure there are others that have been more lonely than I have been but not many.
If loneliness can be defined as feeling hurt, downcast and unhappy over being isolated from and not affiliated with others, then it is a universal state or feeling. We can feel lonely when alone. We can feel lonely in a crowd. We can feel lonely despite being popular. We can feel lonely and likely feel much more lonely when unpopular and avoided by the in-crowd.
Going back to Winch's point, feeling lonely and appearing lonely is the kiss of death in social circles. All are conniving, competing, hurting, being hurt, making alliances, and dumping unproductive social connections--all for the sake of gaining social capital and climbing in social rank, that is, increasing one's degree if inness and popularity.
Loneliness is a complex feeling, and I have not wrapped my mind completely around it, but I recognize that there are five basic categories of loneliness.
First, if one loves God and lives with God each day, to the degree to which one exists with and through God, to that degree one does not feel isolated and disconnected. That connection, love and accompanying joy convert any feeling of loneliness into feelings of warmth, belonging, happiness and comfort. The degree to and the amount of time that one feels lonely can be described as the degree, the distance and the moments when one is estranged from God.
Therefore, if one loves Satan and Lera, and they are penultimate groupists, who rank people by their degree of inness or popularity, then loneliness--however smothered--will be a vast pit of sadness and horror eating away at the inner person. This loneliness is prolonged, inescapable and without redemption as long as the addiction to Satan, Lera and their minions is the person's sole enterprise.
Second, if one loves the self deeply and without reservation, self-esteem, happiness and a feeling of being connected to one's authentic self allows the person to feel satisfied and complete as a maverizing human being. Then, as life goes on, as that person is social or asocial, a loner or joiner, the person feels less and less lonely as a budding angel, and an integral agent of the Divinities, doing their work as instructed and assigned to do.
Where one never has the opportunity to self-realize, or refuses to travel along that designated path, the alienation from the self is permanent and painful. However popular, socially connected and surrounded by adoring people that one might be, the inner life is hollow and twisted.
Third, marrying a soul mate brings to the self a sense of connectedness to the person that love and individuating with an equal and cherished partner alone will provide. That growing together while growing as individuals leads to a living sacrament unfolding for a life time. Loneliness is not much known here, at least on a permanent, deep footing.
Fourth, having real friends in honest, equal friendships makes loneliness go away. If one has no friends, or has only phony if plentiful friendships, then one will feel very lonely.
One day again God will rule this world and then individuals will be able to come and go out of social circles without any negative repercussions for so doing. Then loneliness will be greatly lessened.
Fifth, where one is affiliated with a worthy cause (defending the nation, doing good works. providing for the poor, or volunteering in the community) or individuating to expand God's kingdom, feeling lonely is not a serious threat.
Where one is serving no greater cause, whether self-improvement or social betterment, then one's feeling of loneliness or disaffiliation is without mitigation.
In general, if God rules a planet, loneliness disappears. If the Devil rules a planet, loneliness is pervasive, and is a vital weapon for controlling humans to keep them down, conforming to the dark side, never away from their genetic or assigned groups.
No comments:
Post a Comment