Women and men in a crowd meet and mingle. Yet with itself every soul standeth single. —Alice Carey—
Joy for living depends on the level of intimacy with others whom we’ve grown comfortable with: sharing our grief, our fears, and our glories with others relieves their power over us and fosters a healthier perspective on all the situations in our lives. Yet, even the deepest level of sharing doesn’t relieve us of the need to come to full acceptance, solely alone, of the turmoil, the trauma, the tension in our lives. Interdependently we share this universe, each of us giving to its continuance and receiving sustenance in turn.
With little thought, really, we are living our lives bonded in myriad ways, great and small, to one another and to the cycles of the earth housing us all. Just as absolute as is our interdependence, so sure is our need to be at peace. This means to be alone, but not lonely, with our soul’s relentless search for understanding, for serenity, for certainty about the direction we are taking.
Together and yet alone we are traveling the path of life. I will find a listener today if I want closeness with someone. And I’ll need time alone, away, to understand the life I’ve been given.