Loneliness: A Precursor to Freedom

Often times, when we become lonely, there is a guilt that comes with it. A gnawing feeling that we ought not to feel this certain emotion, as we traverse on our daily lives. But what is it with loneliness, that makes us guilty? Is it the outlier of emotion that is usually looked down upon by our acquaintances, friends, family, or even people that we have never even talked to, or is it the constant surface projection that life should constantly be achieved in a happy state? 

We usually see loneliness being associated with humans and how it is being defined as a “weak” feeling that removes us from our routine, and it’s as if the positivity movement of always seeing the brighter scenario, chasing that greener pasture, or simply searching for the silver lining, weakens the humanity attached to being lonely as something that needs to be rid of or an extra organ that doesn’t contribute to years of evolution. 

But what happens when we remove the guilt from it? When we try to understand loneliness as our path to freedom? To not attach any meaning to the emotion but simply embrace it, just as how we immediately understand happiness. 

I think loneliness is a much-needed state of mind to be truly free. When we get lonely, we revert back to ourselves and detach from society. We try to understand ourselves, on why we are lonely, and what is the meaning behind all of it. This reflective state points us to a new understanding of what it means to be truly free, as we erase presumptions and society’s expectations on what humans should feel, and that loneliness is bothersome that creeps on you and steal every piece of your time, never realizing those snatched away seconds can lead us to greater depths. The chasms of being with ourselves, and relying on our loneliness to point us to a single truth, that we are free to feel this, and that we need to remove the guilt associated with loneliness.

When we become lonely, we start to perceive the meaning of what it takes to be happy and address the idea that happiness is a fleeting moment in space and time, and we take on to that new perspective. Recognizing our vulnerable side gives us the freedom to express ourselves, not as what society wants us to be, but what we need to be.

That to be truly free, we have to be lonely.

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Note: My writings are meant not to give definite answers or a certain conclusion, as these are musings that I still want to improve over time. 

Update: Loneliness, I think, is a basic human condition that we are all predisposed to.