MONELINESS X We are born by another, but born alone; die around others… but die alone

 A

• “We are born by another, but born alone; die around others… but die alone.”

• “Everything of beauty and substance that we make… is an outstretched hand reaching out from one loneliness to another.”

• “Loneliness is fractal… branching into myriad lonelinesses, which… all have different emotional hues.”

• “The past-oriented loneliness of missing what once was… the future-oriented loneliness of longing for what could be… and the profound loneliness of being close to God.”

• “It exists outside of time — like music, like wonder, like love.”

• “Four kinds of forever visit you today: something, nothing, everything & art, greater than you are & of your making.”

A

• Loneliness is the core condition of being human — we are born and die alone, and live within our isolated consciousness.

• All acts of creation and connection (art, friendship, love) are attempts to bridge that solitude.

• Loneliness has many shades — feeling unseen, misunderstood, humiliated, failed, successful, or even in love.

• Robert A. Johnson identifies three fundamental types of loneliness:

  1. Past-oriented: Missing what once was.

  2. Future-oriented: Longing for what could be.

  3. Existential (“close to God”) loneliness: Awareness of our smallness against eternity.

• The first two are rooted in time; the third transcends it — tied to the eternal and creative.

• “Forever” itself is fractal — we glimpse it in moments of art, love, and wonder.

• Brenda Hillman’s poem captures this idea: “Four kinds of forever visit you today — something, nothing, everything, and art.”