135-Who wants to be alone? - Buddhism in daily life

Who wants to be alone?

We humans are and feel lonely, we do not want to be alone.

Many people are downright afraid of loneliness, they can't be alone at all, as a consequence they then make concessions of every kind just to not feel "lonely".

I have many friends who wake up in the morning and immediately turn on the TV (or the radio), some even fall asleep, the background noise then replaces family or friends, just don't be alone, that's the motto here.

Already in our youth we squeeze into discotheques, narrow and dirty rooms, to be "among people", to get to know someone, we stand in queues and wait for admission, we become a member of the gym to "make connections", we sit for hours in the coffee house, because we don't want to be alone at home, we eat in a restaurant, because in our home only walls are waiting for us.

When nothing else helps, we organize ourselves in clubs and associations, we join religions and sects, we meet in groups, the feeling of belonging is so important to us.

For my part, I can be alone for months, hardly meet people, stay for myself, I am satisfied with myself, can be good without company.

But I understand all the people who have their problems with the great loneliness and emptiness. All the spasmodic activities that come from the fear of loneliness, I have sympathy for them, the fate of people is hard, the knowledge of the finiteness of existence hovers like a sword of Damocles over the heads, occupies young and old, sick and healthy, stupid or smart, simply all people (subconsciously) constantly think about their own transience.

What activities do you do just because you can't be alone? Be honest for once, what don't we do just because we have such unbelievable fears, feel such deep despair about our fate. And how nice would it be to just leave those fears behind?

And then there is the search for spirituality that our humanity brings with it, we search for a meaning to our existence, while we go about our normal tasks we brood unstoppably.

Yet staying in the here and now would be precisely the right course of action, namely to focus our consciousness on doing the laundry, cooking the meal, getting the job done, not poking around in the past with our thoughts, nor seeking the future.

The way is the goal!

Never grieve for the past, do not expect anything from the future! Because what is past is gone, not yet is what will come. But he who clearly sees through the present with its manifoldness, let him, when he has recognized it, strive for that which is unshakable.

- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero

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