Loneliness is an interesting feature of humanity. It is said you can be lonely in a crowd and I believe it's true.
Loneliness is not only an experience caused by the absence of friends, it's something that happens on the inside too; it can cling to your heart like the shawl of a corpse once poisoned by neglect. The body still inhales and exhales, the lips smile, but it's a veil, the soul inside is lonely.
I'm told some people simply don't do 'lonely', I can't say what it's like for them, but I know some do (I do), and for some it feels so inescapable it is like a mantrap snapped tight around their life.
Even living in community you can feel alone sometimes, though there are good friends there to help. It's not about self pity but there are times when we can all be vulnerable to this particular state of the soul.
So how about you - do you do lonely?
Can you understand what I mean? (Is anyone out there...)
I can understand what you mean, in fact recently while surrounded by loads of people I'd never felt so lonely. Loneliness can be a thing that does cling to our very soul and it has nothing to do with being 'alone'
ReplyDeleteLoneliness can be as paralising as being bitten by a rattle snake. It's not the same as being alone, whether on the mountaintop or in a crowd, which can be the gateway into another dimension, for a Christian no doubt allowing the possibility of uniting with his God; as perhaps Martin Luther King did in the days before his murder 40 years ago. Like Moses he was able to look into "the promised land" and gained the courage he needed to face the mafia/US government bullet that ended his life.
ReplyDeleteBut for many people, like for example elderly folks surrounded by many others in care homes, loneliness not only causes bitter tears when their loved ones can't be bothered to visit, but actual decline into early death. I am one who is fortunate to have as much contact with my offspring as they are able to provide; but when did you, dear reader, last visit/call/write to your lonely parent or grandparent? Even if you have had a fight, it is better to put it behind you while you can.
Exodus20.12
I think the kind of loneliness I can find myself feeling is the 'no-one understands' kind. I rarely feel alone, and I know I've got people I can turn to and I'm grateful foir this. But just sometimes, I wonder who really shares my heart and has the same dreams and longings I do...
ReplyDeleteSometimes it feels that we are on our own even though we are surrounded by people but as you & James mentioned it relates to whether there is Heart Unity and the same sight and Vision.
ReplyDeleteOnly when we are receiving the same oneness from the Spirit within and we truly are One heart & Soul with those living around us can we sense we are fulfilled & not lonely.
"Only when we are receiving the same oneness from the Spirit within and we truly are One heart & Soul with those living around us can we sense we are fulfilled & not lonely."
ReplyDeleteVision is of spirit not soul.Do you mean heart and spirit rather than heart and soul?
One heart and soul would be a reference to Acts 4:32
ReplyDeleteI tend to be lonely all the time. In crouds, in community, whatever. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it what something to do with the state of my heart towards God?
ReplyDeleteMaybe if my relationship with God ran deeper and I trusted Him more I wouldn't feel that loneliness that clings to the soul. Maybe somehow lonliness is an invitation...
So Jesus fills our loneliness and our misunderstandings... no 1 get us like the father ahhh n his precious spirit the comforter,we need more of this God,could it be turned on its head?
ReplyDeletecould loneliness be a blessing in disguise as it leads us deeper and deeper into his presance to ease the aches of not being fully understood 2 comune with our creator who knitted us 2gether spirit soul and body....maybe you tapped into something deeper here,after all God must have known that very feeling to have created us to be in relationship with him....as 4 me I am often alone but never realy alone and as 4 lonliness is it 2 be rebuked or imbraced?