At about age four or five I had a terrifying experience that many others have similarly undergone. My mother had taken me to a shopping mall, and somehow during her browsing we became separated. She likely was only one or two clothing racks away, but to me she might as well have been on another planet. I was gripped by an incredibly debilitating fear with the realization that I was all alone. While the incident resolved itself within a matter of minutes, the power of that moment was extraordinary.
Why is it that we don’t like to be alone? Certainly our communal, tribal customs along with our reproductive nature drive us into groups and partnerships.
But beyond our genetic predispositions and societal tendencies, we dread aloneness because we’ve bought into lack and believe others are required to fill that emptiness. If I don’t have enough friends, companions, or intimate connections I’ll be lonely.
Who will be there to share my joys, my sorrows, my fears, and my ambitions? Thus laments the ego thought system of solitude whose unspoken dictate commands us to seek but do not find. Hence we exert enormous energy and spend so much time seeking others to fill the perceived void.
As long as you perceive the body as your reality, so long will you perceive yourself as lonely and deprived. (T-15.XI.5)
But that need not be.
We can instead choose a different thought system – one that reminds us of our completeness and unbroken connection with the infinite. From such a vantage point all our relationships – be they casual friends, intimate partners, or unmet strangers – become holy reminders of our true nature as spirit.
No longer seeking completion from others we instead experience shared blessings and mutual respect and appreciation – not for what another can do for us – but rather for our shared sense of brotherhood.
Join us in Monday’s class where we will explore this concept of feeling alone and how we can choose a different framework to experience an incredible sense of communion and joy – regardless of our surroundings. I look forward to seeing you then.