Island of Self

Today is foggy and grey.  The temperature is relatively warm at 67 degrees fahrenheit early in the cycle.  Today is Wednesday.

Where is the idea of loneliness coming from in our current discourse as a society? There are so many ways for people to be connected - email, texts, calling, gatherings - but does this reduce a sense of isolation or loneliness?  We are told there is a health crisis of loneliness burdening many people in this country, even as we are so connected.

So one has to ask, "Are the connections really connections that we can call relationships?"  The fact of hundreds of virtual "friends" and "followers" is today's delusion.  Delusion being reality-by-agreement - a state that is not real but has the veneer of  being real.  And you know it is a delusion because the loneliness is there, despite the numbers, the data, the positive and encouraging messages that tell you to believe the numbers have meaning in life.

The island of self grows and in that growth, the isolation or feeling of being cut off or isolated grows.  

Where and how does one begin to break through so that this sense of isolation can go away?  Some might say that being left alone is exactly what they want - perhaps this is so, but human beings are designed to gather.  And when the gathering is restricted (as in the recent COVID pandemic), human being suffered greatly - often because of the forced isolation.  

For those who know that the digital data about connections is actually not true relationships or connection, the question of how to move to authentic connections persists. The place is so close, and the way is so intimate - it is a connection that is readily available:  Go home to oneself.  The practice of meditation, which does not require phones and computers in order to make a real connection is always available.  Without that connection to self - other connections are not really possible.  The flavor of falseness will remain.

If one wants to change. first, make time to connect to self so that clarity can be cultivated - breathing in and breathing out.  Second, confront the things that keep you busy in order to avoid the discomfort of being a human being in this world - whether it is another person, a community of people, a larger societal phenomenon.  In short, see the fear and insecurity within yourself - examine this. Finally, allow yourself to return to the fact that body, mind alignment can translate into a feeling that will give way to spirit/energy so that you can go on doing all that this life invites you to do.  

Try being, before the doing.  

The practice most surely will bring you to your true home - not your physical space or your affiliations - but home.  This is the place that is the only place that can provide you with the essence of what is needed in order to truly connect to the rest of the world, its people, its needs.