When we are in the depths of our loneliness, what comforts us – what could possibly take us away from it? What, indeed? So often, it feels like there is no solace; like we are running from our own shadow. And it is true, in a way. There is no escape from being alone. We are always alone. But there is a way out of loneliness.

All our efforts at escaping loneliness are fundamentally flawed, for we don’t understand the nature of what we are running from. There is something beautiful about your loneliness. And when you see that, when you acknowledge it, learn to delight in it, that’s when something shifts inside you. When your loneliness becomes aloneness – that is freedom! That is when you can truly begin to Love!

Fragmentation and the search for wholeness

As Osho once said – the first thing is to acknowledge aloneness. Aloneness is our true nature; we can never, ever, not be alone. We come into this world alone, we leave the world alone. And in between these two, we are alone – but we frantically hide from it, run from it, pretend it isn’t true.

I remember analysing an attachment style test in a psychology class once. It aimed to discover how secure we are in our relationships. One of the questions was: “Do you ever feel like you want to completely merge with another?”

The room erupted into an awkward, hesitant burst of laughter at such a question. How absurd! – they seemed to be saying. But I remained silent. An old memory struck me, and I remembered feeling that same depth of loneliness, once, a long time ago. Or perhaps it never truly left me – an alienation so deep that the only way out truly seemed to be melting into another person.

Feeling cut-off in the middle of a lunchtime crowd, feeling alone when cuddling with a girlfriend; always on the outside looking in at life. I remember glancing around at my fellow students. The look on their faces – it seemed like many felt the same way.

This alienation is the universal dilemma of human existence – never at ease, never at home. It drives almost everything we do. Loneliness and separation is an intrinsic, permanent part of our ego.

In the teachings of non-duality, the core of many religions and philosophies, the message is simple – we are all part of the infinite, ever-present, eternal One Life. We are all deeply interconnected and inseparable.

The ego, then, is the universal illusion, the exaggerated feeling of “I”, and the root of all our solitude. For the moment we feel we are “I”, that is the moment we have created the “Not-I”, the other, everything else. We become a fragment, cut off from the rest of existence. We become a dot in this world, forgotten by God.

This sense of fragmentation, for some – perhaps the ones who couldn’t laugh in the lecture hall – is conscious. It shows up as a deep and constant sense of not being whole, of not being enough.

For others, those who laughed at the test, this sense is unconscious. They lack something, but they don’t know what it is. And so they seek, and strive, and struggle, yet all the time not knowing what it is they are trying to fill. More belongings, more sex, more status, more power, more recognition, more, more, more. Almost all their efforts stem from this drive for self-completion. But it is all futile – we are throwing our energies down a bottomless pit. That we are trying to fulfil is the very thing that is causing our lack.

Romance – the new alcohol

Romance is perhaps the most common cover-up for the sense of fragmentation. If we are lonely, it must make sense that we need a special someone! Logical and cold, like a business transaction. A boyfriend, a girlfriend, a lover, someone, anyone! We have reduced them to a mere cover up for our sorrows – no different from the misuse of alcohol, the noise of our television, or killing time on the phone until we can next be with someone – as if we have so much time to kill!

Sex is the closest we can get to oneness on a physical level, and that is why it is so deeply satisfying. And when we peer deeper into our heart, fragmentation shows up as a need to attach, to cling, to melt and to merge. How many people are conscious of this lack? How common is this primordial sense of alienation? Common enough to show up on a standardised psychological test.

And so we look for someone to take away that feeling. When we are with someone, we can take our mind off that background sense of disharmony. Suddenly, our existence seems to have meaning. “I am not alone!” You exclaim, as you cuddle, hug, and kiss. “I have someone who needs me, who wants me! I am beautiful, I am wanted, I am worthy! I am no longer alone!”

And yet, a mere cover-up is all they will ever be. Even when we are with our loved ones, we are still just as we are – alone.

A few weeks ago, I was watching a documentary on the “host” sub-culture, in the nightclub districts of an affluent country. It revolved around handsome young men - dressed up gaudily, highly trained in seduction, paid to lounge around in special bars. They play host to multitudes of women – often young, pretty, and rich – who pay for their company, their caresses, and their idle flattery.

The film focused in particular on the finest host in town – a charming man who owned his own bar. He was living the dream. His prowess with women made other men pale in comparison. He stole women away from their husbands and boyfriends. Women fought over him, sometimes physically, sometimes by throwing money at him, and he goes home with a different one every night. It seemed he would be the last man on Earth to feel alienated.

Near the end of the documentary, I remember the interviewer asking him if it was all worth it. He hangs his head and sighs. “It was all fun for the first few years. But after a while… I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anymore. I am the loneliest man in the world.”

The beauty of aloneness, and the sorrow of loneliness

If romance and sex, if money and fame and recognition offer no relief, what does one do? When you are in the throes of heartache and loneliness, what good are the teachings on oneness and inter-existence? Unless you can experience what they are pointing to – how do they comfort you?

Pretty words to fill your head, and then you close the book and turn to look at your bed, and find it as cold and lonely as it was before. If we can never not be alone, what then? All I can offer is a change of perspective.

Another quote from Osho, then: Aloneness is beautiful, it is grand. Loneliness is sorrowful, it is despair.

On the surface, they look the same. But in reality, they are worlds apart.

Aloneness is our nature. Loneliness is us running away from it.

You are alone. Why make it into a problem? Relax into your loneliness; into your sadness. Don’t run from your aloneness, for it is always there. Celebrate being alone, delight in yourself, dance in your aloneness. If you can’t, then you will forever be running away. Love yourself. It is the only way.

Simply sit down, and be lonely. Don’t think about it. Just feel it. Relax into it, and then you’ll find that your sadness has its own sacredness. Being alone is the perfect chance for you to go deeper into yourself. See all your subtleties, face yourself squarely, and gaze at all the parts you don’t want to. Bring it all up into the light of your awareness, and accept them, love them.

We go off into the city, into the office, into the nightclubs, to run from our aloneness. The teachers, the gurus, the Zen masters – they go off into the mountains so they can get better acquainted with it.

So what? Then what? Once you delight in yourself, then – and only then – can you truly delight in the other. It’s a paradox, one of the biggest ones in the world. Only when you no longer need a lover; that is when you can find romance. Anything else is a sham, a pale imitation.

To be needed and to be loved

A sham. That’s what the entire game of romance is. Who is our “romance” really about? Us, and us alone. We say – I love you. But what we really mean is – Please love me. Manipulation is all it is.

Manipulation to fill our gaps, so we can feel loved, to feel needed. In fact, we have come to confuse the two words – being needed, to us, is the same as being in love!

A friend of mine was complaining to me about something very strange. Her husband had begun to discover the joys of aloneness. He had become meditative, more content and quietly joyful. He loved and laughed when he was with her, but he was also beginning to enjoy his solitary time. He was starting to see that there was nothing lacking, that he no longer needed her to feel complete.

And she began going insane. She became worried; her suspicions began overwhelming her. Why is he so content, so happy? What was he doing in his solitary walks in the park? Is there another woman? She followed him, but he did nothing wrong – he just walked. She spied on him when he was alone in the study, but he did nothing wrong there either – he was meditating, reading, praying. No forbidden love, no strange fetish.

“Why?” she wailed. “What is going on?” Why was she upset? That would be a better question. He no longer needed her, and to her it felt like he was falling out of love. But he wasn’t – in fact, he was falling in love for the first time.

Neediness is so common that we think it’s a sign of romantic love. But neediness is simply that – neediness. And this need will never be satisfied, for nobody – no matter how sweet, handsome, beautiful, gentle, extravagant, and attentive – can ever love your ego the way it wants to be loved.

At most, you will be satisfied for a period of time – the “honeymoon” phase, when you are “in love”, when everything seems perfect and beautiful. Your existence seems to have meaning, for someone needs you and loves you.

Then one day your needs and insecurities – all symptoms of the basic, primordial sense of fragmentation - raise their heads again. Or maybe it just seems that way – they had always been there, we just forgot about them for a while. And that’s when the arguments start, for we think it is the fault of the other person.

“You were supposed to make me happy!” you cry. And the sweetness, the smiles and the kisses begin to swing the other way. We become sad; we attack them for not making us happy; we manipulate them into giving us more. Maybe they give in, and the pendulum swings back into sweetness. Maybe they don’t, and we break up in tears and anger. This even seems normal.

But it is not their fault. No one can take away our primordial sense of separation except us. But we don’t know that, and so we go on complaining and pulling strings. We forget that the only way to be satisfied is to be satisfied in yourself.

Lonely people cannot Love; they can only pretend to, for they have nothing to give. They only give a plastic love, in the hope that someone will give real Love in return. Everything becomes a giant game; a chess match.

But when you no longer need to be needed, when you truly stop wanting to be wanted, that’s when your loneliness changes into aloneness. And you begin to see Love.

Dedicated to all those who are or have been lonely and alienated.

The misunderstandings

This article is perhaps the most misunderstood article I have ever written; and so I’d like to clear up some common misunderstandings here:

1. Loneliness – it is separate from aloneness; two different things. Our physical nature is to be alone. We can never, not be alone. Even if we are having sex, we are still relatively physically separate. But that is not a problem, it only causes sorrow when we run away from it. When we run from our nature, we cause our own pangs of loneliness… but when we acknowledge and embrace our nature, we find the beauty of aloneness.

2. And from aloneness, that is the beginning of true Romance. I am not saying everybody fakes love – I’m saying lonely people do; for they cannot love if they need. Love is the opposite of need. Once you stop needing, that is when you can find love. There are many who do truly love; there are many who do not expect anything in return – but those are the souls who have found aloneness.

3. Once you have stopped being needy, which is what I have called aloneness, that is when you can truly go out into the world and find a proper romance and relationships. Otherwise, it is likely to be neediness, attachment - and not real love. That is all I am saying, I’ve stated that many times throughout the post - that real Love cannot come from loneliness. I am not saying we should all be alone forever, although there’s definitely nothing wrong with that.

当我们深深陷入寂寞时，什么能够抚慰我们——什么能够让我们远离寂寞？到底是什么？常常我们觉得没有什么能够安慰我们，想要摆脱寂寞就像要摆脱影子一样不可能。在某种程度上确实如此，我们没办法逃离寂寞，我们总是出于寂寞之中。但实际上还是有一个办法的。

我们为摆脱寂寞所做的一切从根本上说是存在缺陷的，因为我们不理解我们正在逃离的东西的本质。其实寂寞也有她美丽的一面。当你看到并承认这一点，，学着以寂寞为乐时，你内心的某些东西便会开始慢慢发生变化。当寂寞变成孤独感，你就自由了，就可以开始真正的爱情了！

破碎后找寻整体性

正如奥绍所说：第一件事就是要对孤独形成认知。孤独是我们的真正性质，我们永远无法不孤单。我们孤单的来到这个世界，也将孤单的离开这个世界。而在这两者之间，我们是孤单的——但是我们疯狂的想要隐藏它、逃离它、假装它并不真的存在。

我记得曾在心理课上对爱情依恋类型测试进行了一次分析，目的是了解对恋爱我们有多少把握（It aimed to discover how secure we are in our relationships）。其中一个问题是：“你是否想过要和爱人完全结合？”对这个问题的反应是屋子里爆发出一阵尴尬、犹豫的笑声。他们似乎在说“多可笑！”不过，我保持沉默。过去的记忆击中了我，我想起在很久之前曾经感受过这样深深的寂寞。活着也许它从来不曾真正离开过我——an alienation so deep that the only way out truly seemed to be melting into another person. 个异化如此之深，唯一的出路似乎是真正融化到另一个人。

在午餐人群中感到格格不入，和女朋友在一起时感觉孤单，对生活总像是局外人。我记得我扫试了一下周围同学的脸，他们脸上的表情就好像他们的感受都一样。

这种疏离感是人活着都要面对的困难——无法放松，无法亲近。它几乎驱使着我们所做的一切。寂寞和隔阂是我们自我内在的、永远不能分离的的一部分。

在非对偶性——许多宗教和哲学的核心——教义中，关于这一点的解释很简单——我们都是无限、无时无刻不在、永恒的One Life中的一部分。我们紧密相连，不可分割。

那么，“自我”就是一种人们普遍存在的错觉，是对“我”和我们所有人孤独根源的夸大。当我们觉得我们是“我”时，也就创造了一个“无我”，一个异类，一切别的东西。我们成了一个片段，与其它存在剥离开来。我们成了这个世界上的一个点，被上帝遗忘掉。

这种的感觉，一些人——或许是那些在演讲大厅里没有笑的人——能够意识到。它是一种深深地、持续不断的不完整感和不满足感。

对其他人，那些在测试中笑出声的人来说，他们意识不到这种感觉。他们缺少某写东西，自己却不知道缺少的是什么。所以他们寻找、努力、奋斗，但却一直搞不清楚他们试图填补的是什么。他们拼命获得更多的财产、的性、地位、权利、赞誉……几乎所有的努力都源于自我完善的驱动。但所有的一切都是徒劳，我们把自己的精力扔进了一个无底洞。我们努力实现的正是造成我们匮乏的原因。

爱情和酒

爱情可能是最常见的掩盖感的办法。如果我们感到孤单，必然会觉得我们需要一个特殊的人！这一充满逻辑的冷漠想法，就像是商业交易。你只是想找个男朋友、女朋友、情人、某个人或者任何人都行！我们只是想要掩饰我们的悲伤——这和滥用酒精、开着电视只为了制造声音、煲电话粥直到身边出现一个人没什么区别——就像我们的时间多的不得了一样。

性是我们在生理上能够最接近一个人的办法，这就是为什么人们这么热衷于此。当我们关注我们的心灵时，感还会出现，还会需要我们去系紧、去粘结、去融化和合并。有多少人意识到了这种匮乏？这种原始的疏离感有多普遍？普遍到足以变为一个标准化的心理测试。

所以我们期待着能有人帮我们赶走这种感觉。当我们和某个人在一起时，我们能够让自己的思绪脱离这种不和谐的背景感觉。我们的存在似乎突然变得有意义了。当你们拥抱、亲吻时，你会惊叹“我不再是一个人了！有人需要我、想要我了！我漂亮，被需要，值得爱！我再也不孤单了！”

但是，他们也仅仅是掩盖而已，永远都是。即使和我们爱的那个人在一起，我们也还是我们自己，也还是孤单。

几周前，我在一个富裕国家的夜总会区看了一部关于“host”亚文化的纪录片。它围绕着一个英俊的年轻男子展开，这个男子穿着俗丽，具有高潮的诱惑手段，付费在一些特殊的酒吧附近闲逛。他们主动接近女性，通常是年轻、漂亮、富有的女性，这些女性会因他们的陪伴、爱抚和甜言蜜语而付费给他们。

电影着重突出了这座城市里最优秀的一个“host”，这是一个迷人的男子，拥有自己的酒吧。他生活在梦中。他与女性交往的能力让其他男人相比之下变得很苍白。他从丈夫和男朋友身边偷走他们的女人。女人们争夺他，有时候用身体，有时候用钱，每天陪他过夜的女人都不同。好像他是这世界上的最不可能有疏离感的男人。

我记得影片接近结尾的时候，有个记者问他这一切是否值得。他摇着头发出一声叹息，“最初几年里所有的一切都很有趣，但过了一段时间……我不知道那是什么感觉。这些都不要紧了。我是这世界上最孤单的人。”

孤独的美丽和寂寞的悲哀

如果爱情和性，如果金钱、名利和赞誉都没办法帮我们解脱，那么我们该怎么办？当你感到阵阵心痛和孤单，完整性和相互依存的教义对你有什么用？除非你能够体会它们提出的一切，否则它们怎么能安慰你？

那些漂亮话充满了你的头脑，但是当你合上书，转身去看你的床时，发现它还是像以前一样的冰冷、寂寞。如果我们能够永远都不在寂寞，那会发生什么？ All I can offer is a change of perspective.我所能提供的改变观点。

引用奥绍的另一句话：孤独是美丽的，崇高的。寂寞是悲伤的，绝望的。

表面看来他们都一样，但实际上它们有天壤之别。

孤独是我们的本性，而寂寞使我们想要逃离的。

你是孤单的。这有什么问题？在孤独和悲伤中放松自己。不要逃离孤独，因为人总是孤独的。为感到孤单庆祝，取悦自己，在孤单中舞蹈。如果你做不到，你就只能永远逃跑。爱你自己。这是唯一的解决办法。

只要坐下来，孤独地。不要去思考，只要去感受。放松自己进入它，然后你会发现你的悲伤自有它的神圣之处。孤独是审视自己的完美的机会。查看你所有的微妙之处，诚实地面对自己，注视所有你不愿意注视的地方。把所有这些都带到你的意识里，接受它们并爱上它们。

为了躲开孤单，我们去城市、去办公室、去夜总会。而教师、大师、禅师，他们去山上以便能够更好的熟悉它。一旦你取悦自己，那时候——也只有那时候——你才能真正的取悦别人。这是自相矛盾的，是这个世界上最重要的事中的一件。只有不再需要情人了，你才能够找到爱情。别的都是骗局，都是苍白的仿制品。

被需要和被爱

一个骗局。这就是爱情的全部。谁和我们的爱情真正相关？我们，只有我们自己。我们说我爱你，但我们真正的意思是爱我吧。一切都是手段（Manipulation is all it is）。

填补我们缺口的手段，所以我们感到被爱被需要。实际上，我们把这两个词闹混了，对我们来说被需要就和在恋爱一样！

一个朋友向我们抱怨说有些事很奇怪。她丈夫已经开始发现孤单的乐趣，他变得爱思考，更满足，更快乐。和她在一起时他很爱她，并且经常笑，但他也很享受自己独处的时间。他开始觉得自己不再缺少什么，不再需要她才觉得完整。

这让她很抓狂。她变得很担心，满脑子猜疑。他为什么如此满足，如此高兴？他在公园单独散步时都做些什么？是不是有了另一个女人？她跟踪他，但没发现任何不对头的事情，他只是在散步而已。他一个人在书房时，她会监视他，但也没发现任何不对头的事情，他只是打坐、阅读、祈祷。没有禁忌之爱，也没有奇怪的迷恋。

她哭着说：“为什么会这样？到底发生了什么？”她在烦恼什么？这是个更好的问题。他不再需要她了，对她来说这就像他在放弃爱情。但他没有——实际上，他第一次爱上了她。

需求如此普遍以至于我们认为她是浪漫爱情的一个迹象。但是需求只是需求，就是这么简单。并且这种需求永远无法满足，因为没有人——不管这个人多甜美、英俊、美丽、温柔、奢华、周到——都不能想你的自我想要的那样爱你。

大多数情况下，某一段时间你会感到满足——当一切似乎都很完美、没事的时候，比如蜜月阶段，或者恋爱阶段。因为有人需要你、爱你，所以你的存在似乎也有了意义。

直到有一天，你的需求和不安全感——所有基本、原始的症状——会重新抬起头来。或许它只是看上去这样，而实际上它们一直存在着，只是我们把它们遗忘了一段时间。争论就此开始，因为我们都认为这是对方的错。

你哭着说：“你应该让我高兴！”甜蜜、微笑、亲吻都开始摆向另一端。我们变得悲伤，我们指责他们没有让我们开心，我们试图操纵他们，让他们给我们更多。也许他们会屈服，然后钟摆会摆回原来的甜蜜。也许他们不屈服，我们就会不可抑制的流泪、发怒。这甚至似乎很正常。

但这不是他们的错。除了我们自己，没人能帮我们赶走原始意义上的分离。但我们不知道这一点，所以我们继续抱怨、继续收线。我们忘了唯一能满足我们的只有自己。

寂寞的人不会爱，他们只能假装，因为他们没有任何东西可以给与别人。他们只能给别人塑料爱情，并希望别人回报给他们真正的爱情。一切都变成了一个巨大的游戏，一次国际象棋比赛。

但是当你不再需要被别人需要时，当你真正停止想要被要时，你的寂寞就变成了孤单，你就可以看到爱了。

献给那些现在或曾经寂寞、疏离的人们。

误解

本文可能是我写过的最容易被误读的文章，所以我想在这里澄清一些普遍的误解：

1. 寂寞Loneliness —这和孤独不同，它们完全是两种东西。我们的物理本质就是孤立。但我们永远都不会是一个人。即使我们做爱，我们的身体仍然是相对独立的。但是这不是什么问题，我们只有在逃避它时才会觉得悲伤。当我们逃避自己的本性是，我们使自己感受到寂寞的痛苦……但是，我们承认并接受我们的本性是，我们会发现孤独的美丽。

2. 孤独是真正爱情的开始。我不是说每个人都在假装爱，我只是说寂寞的人会这样，因为他们需要爱而不能爱。爱是与需要相反的东西。一旦你听只需要，你就能够发现爱了。有很多人他们真的爱着别人，有很多人不求回报，但他们都是发现了孤独的人。

3. 一旦你停止渴求，也就是我所说的寂寞，你就可以真正的融入这个世界，寻找一份稳妥的爱情。否则，它可能是需求、依恋，而不是真正的爱。这就是我想说的，我已经在全文中多次指出，寂寞不能带来真正的爱情。我不是说我们应该永远独自一个人，尽管这样做肯定没什么错。