# Existential Loneliness



## Weslee Hancock

Thou hast made us for Thyself,o Lord and our souls are restless till they rest in Thee


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## Mickey Nice

*Angst*

Perhaps existential loneliness is the same as existential angst. If there is a lack of meaningfulness in one's life I would think there would be much loneliness. I have read that one must have the courage to invent a meaning and stick to it with courage.


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## Mickey Nice

"Thou hast made us for Thyself,o Lord and our souls are restless till they rest in Thee"

I like this though I am a non believer. I would just substitute Thou, Thee and Lord for death and eternity.


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## Mickey Nice

I am getting a book you suggested quite awhile ago - Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism and Buddhism.

Looks good. Mickey


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## Asity

Yep, I have for the most of my life felt fundamentally alone. No amount of well-meaning friends or relationships have "removed" this. It seems to be a sort of disconnect.
And I agree it probably has to do with whether one sees a meaning in one's life or not.


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## Pinion

I've never felt intrinsically incomplete, but I have felt intrinsically inhuman (and still do). 

I contain enough to have things like shadow selves and to argue with old men in my dreams about how everything and everyone in them is or isn't me, so how could I be incomplete? There's just too much in there for me to be some kind of unfinished blueprint needing... what exactly? What don't I contain already in some form? There's no telling what I'd find if I went far enough inward.

I'm not religious, but if I ever wanted to seek out a higher power I know what pathway I would take to seek an answer. Internally I can and have always been able to point to it because _it's right there look_. Time just shows me new and better routes or shows me those things manifested in human beings and human ideas.

I have felt "not myself" in the past, but that was when I repressed important aspects of myself and created a false inner world with false pathways. I think that's the closest I've come to not being whole: deliberately being a half or even just a third of a whole. Those aspects were always there and I always knew they were there on some level (thus the dreams of alternate selves trying to climb out of my sleeping body for a couple of years). 

Or I don't know how to bring about what I want and feel useless and aimless. The most common.


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## lightwing

Of course it's more complex than this, but the easy answer is that this is evidence for the "god" shaped hole in every one of us.


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## Belladonne

lightwing said:


> Of course it's more complex than this, but the easy answer is that this is evidence for the "god" shaped hole in every one of us.


One meets fulfilled and unfulfilled theists and atheists.


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## bluekitdon

Weslee Hancock said:


> Thou hast made us for Thyself,o Lord and our souls are restless till they rest in Thee


Ever wonder if we are designed to seek until we find a connection with God? I've seen this so many times I've lost count at our church, people who have gone most of their entire lives searching for something finding peace. Call it what you will, rationalize however much you want, but people seem to be constantly searching for something until they connect with him.


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## Belladonne

bluekitdon said:


> Ever wonder if we are designed to seek until we find a connection with God? I've seen this so many times I've lost count at our church, people who have gone most of their entire lives searching for something finding peace. Call it what you will, rationalize however much you want, but people seem to be constantly searching for something until they connect with him.


Speaking as someone who's been doing a ton of soul-searching lately (hence the signature, lol) I disagree - I think that people are destined to be unhappy till they come to terms with the fact they will die and decide how to deal with that. Whether that's through following a particular religion, deciding to live in a particular way, or whatever - atheists, theists, agnostics, whatever, learning to accept death and live in a way they find fulfilling and pleasing seems to be the key. It's the human condition.


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## Pinion

Make waves, and be a source of motion.


Give, and become part of the larger momentum.


Write, and live for a lifetime in the mental backdrop of another if you do it well (also becoming motion/momentum).

That's all. It doesn't matter whether I'm theist or atheist.


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## Snowdrift

thewindlistens said:


> I really miss myself sometimes. I haven't seen him in years.


You caanot even begin to comprehend how much I can relate to this and how much it fits
I've been slipping for years, and I don't even know why anymore, just becoming worse and worse of a person each and every day
And the worst part?
I can see myself slipping, i can feel, see and hear myself getting worse
which in itself is a little punishment all on it's own


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## Euclid

I'm thinking about founding a church based on reason, or have for quite a while, to meet the growing demand for answers from thirsty souls. It's all of course going to be free of charge.


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## Riptide

Belladonne said:


> Speaking as someone who's been doing a ton of soul-searching lately (hence the signature, lol) I disagree - I think that people are destined to be unhappy till they come to terms with the fact they will die and decide how to deal with that. Whether that's through following a particular religion, deciding to live in a particular way, or whatever - atheists, theists, agnostics, whatever, learning to accept death and live in a way they find fulfilling and pleasing seems to be the key. It's the human condition.


I beg to differ. Everyone knows death is inevitable; accepting death per se does not to lead to fulfilment. It is more likely to be the sense of lacking of time between death and now that leads people to reflect, to let go the burdens, to break away the chains which are essential to live a pleasing life.


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## BlackShugar

I had something like this too but then I realized I am a virgin.


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## Belladonne

Riptide said:


> I beg to differ. Everyone knows death is inevitable; *accepting death per se does not to lead to fulfilment*. It is more likely to be the sense of lacking of time between death and now that leads people to reflect, to let go the burdens, to break away the chains which are essential to live a pleasing life.


I'd say it certainly helps you get fulfilment. I don't see how not accepting it would make you fulfilled.


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## Belladonne

Euclid said:


> I'm thinking about founding a church based on reason, or have for quite a while, to meet the growing demand for answers from thirsty souls. It's all of course going to be free of charge.


Do you mean a Christian church or an "atheist/agnostic/welcome to aaaanybody church" type thing?


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## Euclid

Belladonne said:


> Do you mean a Christian church or an "atheist/agnostic/welcome to aaaanybody church" type thing?


Welcome to anybody including atheists  Whether it is "Christian" or not is subject to interpretation, but I'd like to think it is so in the same (at least original) spirit.


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