Loneliness

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Why does God allow the experience of lonliness? Before original sin, Adam experienced loneliness in the Garden of Eden. Some say it was for Adam to appreciate Eve.

A trend I see in many today is the widow. The widow seems to be the famale version of Adams lonliness. BVM Mary experienced widowhood for a long time. She had to witness her husbands death, her son’s minestry, Crusifiction, ressurection, and Assension as a lonly widow. Statistically, women live seven years longer than men. This is almost a forced period of lonliness. Should a woman marry an older man, she experiences longer lonliness.

Again, I don’t believe lonliness is a result of original sin … But wonder what God is creating with lonliness?

 

[ynotzap]

Adam being the first human was able to communicate with God, and I would believe that would have consoled him to some extent. But he didn’t have complete union with God because he wasn’t united to God in the Beatific Vision. So to console, and to help Adam for man was made a social creature, he created Eve. God said “It is not good for man to be alone” Even united to another human, we still experience a void because we were not just created to socialize with each other or just to be united to others as in marriage, we were created for God, and He alone can remove that inner loneliness we all experience. Only God can fulfill that spiritual void we all experience. When God possess us we are united completely, spiritually and someday physically which will be spiritualized. :Our souls are restless until they rest in Thee" St.Augustine. When we experience love, it brings with it happiness and peace, but that is limited here on earth, with God is will be eternal and complete.

 

[lakotak]

I am older and I live alone. I have no family near me.

Sometimes I think that God tries to draw us away from the world, I know when I get caught up into the physical too much and kinda neglect my prayer, etc. I tend to get lonely because the thing I am doing does not satisfy. However, in my loneliness I try to reach out to Him. In my loneliness, I know I am missing something and it is Him. As I turn back to Him, the loneliness is lessened. Perhaps it is His way of trying to keep us focused on something other than our surroundings if we will turn to Him. I know when I am really lonely, I definitely turn to Him in prayer, there is nowhere else left to turn. Some that are lonely will choose to turn to Him, others will refuse and remain in the state they are in. I envision Mary as having days when she missed her Son and her husband in the physical, but I don’t think she was ever really lonely.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Before original sin, Adam experienced loneliness in the Garden of Eden.

Where do you get that idea? Scripture merely says (Gen. 2:18) “It is not good for man to be alone” and (v. 20) “for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.” It does not say Adam was lonely. Can you refer us to a Church Father, Doctor, or theologian who interprets the Genesis account in the way that you do?

 

[bsf]

Why does God allow the experience of loneliness? Before original sin, Adam experienced loneliness in the Garden of Eden. Some say it was for Adam to appreciate Eve…
….Again, I don’t believe loneliness is a result of original sin … But wonder what God is creating with lonliness?

Giggly Giraffe,

Why is it that you started this thread; feeling a bit “down” or lonely yourself?

I can only conjecture why God allows loneliness; wondering if a full understanding of this is only possible after this mortal life is done.

Consider a few selected passages from the book Loneliness by the late Clark E. Moustakas, though.

“when a lonely existence completes itself, the individual becomes, grows from it, reaches out for others in a deeper, more vital sense” (p. 8)

In that passage, I think Moustakas was referring to the end of a period of loneliness, not the end of this mortal existence.

“Wolfe [Thomas] believed that loneliness is an essential condition of creativity, that out of the depths of grief, despair, and the shattering feeling of total impotency springs the urge to create new forms and images and to discover unique ways of being aware and expressing experience.” (p. 33)

Some of mankind’s greatest artists responded to their own loneliness with great artistic creations. I believe Emily Dickinson’s works are an example

If I had not experienced loneliness, I probably would not be replying to you. I pray that you have the peace that comes from a trusting in the Lord and knowing that He is always with you.

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Adam being the first human was able to communicate with God, and I would believe that would have consoled him to some extent. But he didn’t have complete union with God because he wasn’t united to God in the Beatific Vision. So to console, and to help Adam for man was made a social creature, he created Eve. God said “It is not good for man to be alone” Even united to another human, we still experience a void because we were not just created to socialize with each other or just to be united to others as in marriage, we were created for God, and He alone can remove that inner loneliness we all experience. Only God can fulfill that spiritual void we all experience. When God possess us we are united completely, spiritually and someday physically which will be spiritualized. :Our souls are restless until they rest in Thee" St.Augustine. When we experience love, it brings with it happiness and peace, but that is limited here on earth, with God is will be eternal and complete.

Is lonliness part of the human condition? Has there been a human who did not experience lonliness? Did Jesus experience lonliness? Do angels experience lonliness?

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Giggly Giraffe,

Why is it that you started this thread; feeling a bit “down” or lonely yourself?

I can only conjecture why God allows loneliness; wondering if a full understanding of this is only possible after this mortal life is done.

Consider a few selected passages from the book Loneliness by the late Clark E. Moustakas, though.

“when a lonely existence completes itself, the individual becomes, grows from it, reaches out for others in a deeper, more vital sense” (p. 8)

In that passage, I think Moustakas was referring to the end of a period of loneliness, not the end of this mortal existence.

“Wolfe [Thomas] believed that loneliness is an essential condition of creativity, that out of the depths of grief, despair, and the shattering feeling of total impotency springs the urge to create new forms and images and to discover unique ways of being aware and expressing experience.” (p. 33)

Some of mankind’s greatest artists responded to their own loneliness with great artistic creations. I believe Emily Dickinson’s works are an example

If I had not experienced loneliness, I probably would not be replying to you. I pray that you have the peace that comes from a trusting in the Lord and knowing that He is always with you.

I’m in the stage of life where silence is a rare commodity. However, surrounded by family, friends, and those who love God, my exhaustion causes me to long for the familiar lonliness to which I was accustomed to. However, also surrounded by the elderly (mainly widows) I ponder if men are alone at the start while women are left alone at the end.

 

[ynotzap]

Is lonliness part of the human condition? Has there been a human who did not experience lonliness? Did Jesus experience lonliness? Do angels experience lonliness?

Yes lonliness is part of our human existence because God made us for Himself. He is Pure Spirit, and the noblest part of our nature is spirit, our souls are spiritual. Nothing physical can truly satisfy a spiritual soul except a Spirit who can possess it fully. To know God (knowing is a spiritual action), is to be possessed by Him

When we love someone, we seek to know that person, and when we know that person is desirable we seek to be united to that person. But human love does not satisfy that inner hunger which can not be fully satisfied by human love. Jesus did experience loneliness in His human nature, but He was always united to His Father in His divine nature. He was abandoned by the Apostles, many did not respond to His love, that made Him cry out “Father why have you abandoned me?” The Father never abandoned Him, it just that He knew some would never accept Him and He would lose them which hurt Him because He loved them. Angels in Heaven never experience lonliness, angels in Hell live in infinite lonliness, they were created for God, and now they are separated from Him, eternal agony, darkness, and lonliness for they are not fulfilled with the God they were created for.

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Adam being the first human was able to communicate with God, and I would believe that would have consoled him to some extent. But he didn’t have complete union with God because he wasn’t united to God in the Beatific Vision.

What is "beatific Vision "? Why did God create mankind without this?

 

[bsf]

I’m in the stage of life where silence is a rare commodity. However, surrounded by family, friends, and those who love God, my exhaustion causes me to long for the familiar lonliness to which I was accustomed to. However, also surrounded by the elderly (mainly widows) I ponder if men are alone at the start while women are left alone at the end.

Married with children?

Volunteerism has had me spend considerable time with the elderly, and I am intimately familiar with the persistent loneliness and sense of loss some widows experience.

The difference in life expectancies between men and women and the implication for heterosexual, married couples, faithful till death, is something I have also considered often. That is something always in the forefront of my mind when men discuss romantic relationships/marriage to younger, often much younger, women. It is something I consider often when I notice younger women myself and feel an attraction to them, whether it be physical, intellectual, spiritual, etc. I myself would not characterize the normal situation to be loneliness for men early in life, and women at the end, though. That would be very symmetric, awfully neat and tidy, but I wonder if any loneliness is not equally shared in the younger years. Furthermore, even though I have never been married, I very much understand, having observed it often, that marriage does not preclude loneliness.

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Angels in Heaven never experience lonliness, angels in Hell live in infinite lonliness, they were created for God, and now they are separated from Him, eternal agony, darkness, and lonliness for they are not fulfilled with the God they were created for.

This implies that God is perpetually lonly; as he is yearning for the angels, and souls who reject him. Since angels are eternal, and our souls are eternal, does this lead us to conclude God will forger be lonly?

Further, are we lonly because God is lonly?

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

Married with children?

Volunteerism has had me spend considerable time with the elderly, and I am intimately familiar with the persistent loneliness and sense of loss some widows experience.

The difference in life expectancies between men and women and the implication for heterosexual, married couples, faithful till death, is something I have also considered often. That is something always in the forefront of my mind when men discuss romantic relationships/marriage to younger, often much younger, women. It is something I consider often when I notice younger women myself and feel an attraction to them, whether it be physical, intellectual, spiritual, etc. I myself would not characterize the normal situation to be loneliness for men early in life, and women at the end, though. That would be very symmetric, awfully neat and tidy, but I wonder if any loneliness is not equally shared in the younger years. Furthermore, even though I have never been married, I very much understand, having observed it often, that marriage does not preclude loneliness.

Yes, married with children. Young childreen.

I guess I first noticed men lonly when young/women old with the introduction (into my knowledge) of the “new Adam/new Eve” in the CCC… If Adam was lonly (in the presence of God before original sin) would it not be balanced that the new Eve (BVM Mary) was lonly at the end of her life? Does this coinencide (sp?) with the widows I have been blessed to meet?

 

[Giggly_Giraffe]

How can we be in heaven (should we get there) and not be lonly without our family and friends who did not get there ( in purgatory, or hell )?

Will we ever exist in a state of being without lonliness?!?!?!

 

[bsf]

I am sorry if you are experiencing difficulty in finding “alone time” to “recharge”. Being that is a “married with children” issue, I feel it is way outside of my lane, and all I can do is pray for you.

Regarding your observation, I do not know. Is it Roman Catholic tradition that we believe Mary was lonely at the end of her life, or for the period after the crucifixion?

 

[Nihilist]

It’s great being alone. Remember, “Hell is other people”. Sometimes, you feel like you want company, but when it’s there, you will wish dearly it would be gone. Feeling lonely is actually a nice luxury. And then feeling a haunting melancholy, is actually a kind of Byronic pleasure.

Man is basically a solitary animal- a lone wolf. He comes together in societies and groups only out of fear (for protection), and to fill his material needs more easily.

 

[ynotzap]

What is "beatific Vision "? Why did God create mankind without this?

The Beatific Vision is seeing God face to face. it consists in the immediate and intuitive contemplation of the divine essence, God by the light of glory which is a supernatural power infused in the blessed by God. It is proportionately to the degree of sanctifying grace possessed by each one of the blessed at the time of their death. This is the purpose of our existence, to be united to God. Our life consists of striving for this goal, we have to be faithful to God by living a life of virtue, co-operating with grace, we are tested to see if we are worthy of the prize. As St. Paul said " I run a race for the crown (Heaven, union with God) I have kept the faith…

 

[ynotzap]

This implies that God is perpetually lonly; as he is yearning for the angels, and souls who reject him. Since angels are eternal, and our souls are eternal, does this lead us to conclude God will forger be lonly?

Further, are we lonly because God is lonly?

God is not perpetually lonely, He is sufficient unto Himself there is the Trinity, the love triangle, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, in a sense you could say God is Community within Himself. “Father glorify Me with the glory I had with you before the world was made.” In Heaven there is no memory of sadness, if there were it wouldn’t be Heaven. Jesus showed His sadness because He took on human nature and was like us in all things, except sin. So He experiences all our emotions, thoughts and feeling, He is also Divine in His personality and is above feelings by His understanding. He is Pure Spirit in HIs divinity. The souls in heaven experience no sadness.

 

[ynotzap]

How can we be in heaven (should we get there) and not be lonly without our family and friends who did not get there ( in purgatory, or hell )?

Will we ever exist in a state of being without lonliness?!?!?!

You can not judge this situation, how do you know that your family won’t be there and your friends? God is merciful and one would have to be extremely bad, and reject all the graces God provides for him. We can not judge. If they are in purgatory, they will eventually be in Heaven, because there is Hope. There is no Hope in Hell. In Heaven you will be shaking so many hands you won’t have time to be lonely