There are no extents to which we humans will not go to escape from our own loneliness. Addiction, toxic relationships, friendships based on convenience, the internet, drugs, saviour complex, ego, anything and everything to feed the devil. A devil with an insatiable appetite. Can we make peace with our own loneliness? Can we just accept, at a very primal fundamental level that we humans are innately alone, that life is meant to be that way, can we make peace with that devil, can we make love to it, can we thrive with it? I know, I know, human connections are the way to a meaningful life, that breaking through the barriers of that self-imposed loneliness is a humane task required of us by existence, but can I stop using people to fill my own loneliness? Can people be a source of nourishment instead of fodder to this devil of innate loneliness? A dessert, that ice cream that is eaten for joy rather than to satiate hunger? Imagine a life, where I am happy to be, where I respect myself for who I am, where my efforts are for nourishment, not for escape, where the relationships I build are to enjoy the joys of human companionship, not to fill some hole within. That is an ideal life. “Oh loneliness, I know you are there. I know you live within, eating all that I value, constantly scaring me to run away from you lest I see you in your naked weak form and see how powerless you truly are, but I will not be scared. I will make peace with you. We shall live as brothers, with me nurturing you, but not fattening you. You have to understand that while I have nothing but empathy for you, I too want to live a life outside of you. That I, as a human, have my own aspirations, desire to seek meaning, and moral pursuit of joy and happiness. Must you keep impeding me? Let me go, I will return, but return as a happy friend so that we shall dance together and I shall name thee solitude.”
Author Aarsh shah - 2010 Batch (CSE)