A man must get away
now and then
to experience loneliness.
Only those who learn how to live
in loneliness
can come to know themselves
and life.
I go out there and walk
and look at the trees and sky.
I listen to the sounds of loneliness.
I sit on a rock or stump
and say to myself,
"Who are you, Sandburg?
Where have you been,
and where are you going?"
Love this!
I would make a distinction between loneliness and aloneness. Silence and solitude, regular rhythms we all need, is not pursuing loneliness but aloneness. I think there's a huge difference. Loneliness can be a deeply psychological state in the midst of crowds while aloneness is a voluntary, temporary retreat.
Loneliness gives me a sense of needyness, where aloneness gives me a sense of choice. Either way, a good idea.
I received some assignments last evening at prayer that can only be done in aloneness.
i agree with the above comments on the distinction between loneliness and aloneness. As I have gotten older I am able to enjoy aloneness whereas when younger, especially remembering as a teen, it was harder and seemed closer to loneliness. But as Deanna said, either way a good idea. Sometimes loneliness is needed. It could prod you in a different direction or help you pay attention to something you have been needing to, or even a temporary state that sometimes happens when you change and alter course. At times you can feel lonely until that course bears fruit for you. Or when you just don't fit in somewhere.
I believe that Sandburg chose the word loneliness carefully and did not mean to talk about aloneness. I agree they are very different. In my mind he is talking to that deep feeling of pain that we all experience at some point and comments on how to be brave when faced with pain, fear, loneliness. As we call to God and ask for guidance we are also asking ourselves, who am I and where am I going? When the comforting comes we can then be alone.
Learn to Live in A-Loneliness--A-sadness,
A desolation...away from Indulging Aloneness.
"A man must get away" they say,
divest the Self of Self...
an emptying out...
go out of Oneself;
where nothing can rival...
and nothingness give rise to....
save the "sounds of loneliness".
And then they speak...
more eloquently than the 'blood of Abel'--
"Who are you?
Where have you been?
Where are you going?".
Surely...to 'Know myself in this lonely crowd'!
And Life! To Know...'I am not Alone in Life'!
Often Jesus Indulged HIS Aloneness--to 'go away and Pray' to HIS FATHER Alone. In HIS Passion, HE was dispossessed of this Aloneness, so as to become steeped into 'Loneliness of our Human condition'. Yet HE said of HIS A-Loneliness: "I AM Alone. Yet I am not Alone. The Father is with me". Because of Jesus, we are NEVER Alone or A-lonely Life!
Just what I was trying <;-)getting at in my response.
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