- What a strange thing is loneliness, and how frightening it is! We never allow ourselves to get too close to it; and if by chance we do, we quickly run away from it. We will do anything to escape from loneliness, to cover it up.
We return to Krishnamurti today and his words on ‘Loneliness‘, a selection from ‘Commentaries on Living’. In looking at the cause of loneliness, Krishnamurti asks, “Is not our whole tendency to isolate ourselves, to divide and separate?” We create our own loneliness, it is a function of our ego that puts up the walls and boundaries that separate us from others. This is the problem of the ’self’ — “The very activity of the self, at whatever level, is the way of isolation”.
If you’ve gone through periods of loneliness, I think you’ll find this selection very interesting — I did. He moves us through a discussion of craving and then, near the end of this piece, he shares some wonderful words on love that are also very interesting. Krishnamurti always gives us something worthy of contemplation in his writings and this is another great one to sit with — alone, but not lonely.
- The word “loneliness,” with its memories of pain and fear, prevents the experiencing of it afresh.
