Alone But Not Lonely

By Reza Ganjavi

Gosh, the day after Christmas, and I'd not seen so many depressed people in the town before. Given it's a very thought dominated society there are many people who are by themselves -- because thought is divisive (because it's rooted in knowledge which is limited and what's limited is divisive and brings conflict). Maybe they feel sad that another Christmas came and they didn't have anyone to celebrate it with.

I was also alone this holiday period -- sometimes I'm not, sometimes I am. Didn't feel lonely as I hardly ever do, unless things are going really wrong which thank God doesn't happen often... and if it does it's a time to be strong and calm and see if you can survive it, and be a light to oneself.

What was interesting was that seeing people who are together, not by themselves, and whose face says they're lonely. So I wrote in my little journal: I don't mind being alone when I see many who are together are lonely...

Of course social media has added a new twist. I've chatted with a bunch of friends on FB and Skype and email -- so the fulfillment from human contact is easily achieved. A friend said, “How could you ever be lonely with that many FB friends?” That was 2 weeks after I joined Facebook and had 500 friends. Now it's been 2 months since joining FB and over 2000 contacts. I wish I had more time to read everything but it's a nice way of staying in touch.

[The friend list reached the maximum 5000 but most of them are not friends nor acquaintances – total strangers that Facebook calls friends. What a misuse of the term. Good friends are the most important assets in life – so we should use that term sensibly – not as stiff as in the Germanic cultures, and not so loose at the other extreme, the Facebook culture. In fact, I’ve stopped using FB. I do not like FB. It’s too active. It’s impossible to change your profile picture without the whole world being notified! It’s like, I like to do some things in life without creating waves which uses computing resources, energy, time.]

Two little girls were playing rock-paper-scissors on the bus today. It was fun to watch.

In the mountains it felt like being in a crowd but this time with trees river sky mountain snow and lightness of the air, instead of humans and some of their ugly ways of living and what they do to each other and the lack of love... Nature loves. Nature is conscious.

~~~

PS --

I've written about this extensively in the past. Alone means all-one. Loneliness is a disease. All one means to be united internally, not broken up - friends within. So it means understanding a lot of things...

~~~~~

Selected comments:

Leni: Wow, beautifully said Reza.

Maryam: I am there with you, Reza jon! Happy "Oneness!"

Reza Ganjavi: yes indeed toxic relationships are no good. Loneliness is a disease. Aloneness is powerful. And neither have anything to do with whether one is with others or not.

Peyman Azad II once there is no center, there is no image of solitude, the situation of being alone often by choice. Sometimes we are under influence of traditions and so we feel lonely, but as you know better than me in complete attention and in what is there is no feeling loneliness. you are present and life passes moment to moment.

Farshad: May I share this post of you?

Chetna: Beautifully written, Reza... Could I share?

Sima: I like the way u describe "alone!" Well said! :)

Dr. Fathie: With all this art that you have you're never alone dear Reza. [Professor Fathie, MD, PhD, is a good friend of my father since childhood. He’s one of the world’s prominent neurosurgeons and was the Chairman of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons for 19 years. https://aanos.org/dr-kazem-fathie/]

Reza Ganjavi: Thank you dear Dr. Fathie. That coming from you, a true, proven genius by all measures, and a great human, means a lot to me. It's truly a pleasure and honor to know you. Best wishes for 2015.

Rosee: I was very intrigued about what you posted! Sadly, there are many people in the world like you described! It is so important to know where we came from, why we are here, and where we can go! God bless you in the coming new year and I hope more people will feel God's love for them and not feel like they are alone!

Reza Ganjavi: Thanks a lot, Rosee. I agree. God is the source and the essence of everything that exists.

Reza Ganjavi: Nature is conscious, it's alive, it loves, it has a mind. It's snowing now, gracefully -- what a marvel!

Reza Ganjavi: There's a lot of drinking here but not like in Scandinavia or UK or Ireland -- or Russia etc. -- but in some ways alcohol plays a very significant role in many people's lives many places in the world and it's associated with fun -- but in reality it's highly addictive and damaging...