Loneliness
I have been thinking about loneliness of late, discussing it with
my selves and others, and wanted to express the relationship of my
work to loneliness. I say "my" work as a linguistic convention, for
I realise there is very little by way of ownership of this
facilitation of a process that is omnipresent in the world and in
humanity's relationship to it. I am, as various teachers have
pointed out, but "a hollow bone".
Carl Jung
said;
"I know things and must hint at things which others apparently know nothing of, and for the most part do not want to know. Lonliness does not come from having no people about one but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissable....If a man knows more than others, he becomes lonely"
Carl was a product of his culture, and his observation does not
apply to solely to the male gender. In my observation, many
individual problems are reflections of a much broader cultural
malaise. We live in an extremely mediated
society, and many find that their immediate quality of felt
experience does not match the view that culture at large holds.
This is often internalised as an individual failing, and various
illnesses result. It is my hope that this forum can become a space
for the telling of story, and the realisation of the fact that
actually our stories as humans are very similar, and all equally
important. In the weeks to come, I shall be posting recordings of
various interviews with exceptional people. Exceptional not
necessarily because of their cultural achievements, but because
they have had the courage to pursue the path of their heart's
knowing, and have grown beyond their own expectations in the
process.
I hope that this process, and others that I engage in, can in some
way ameliorate the prevailing sense of loneliness and separation
that is so much a part of the current human story.
May peace prevail.
Simon