It is important to differentiate between interpersonal and existential loneliness. I am not an expert but I have found a website which described it very well.
www.intellectualtakeout.org
Here are the characteristcs of each one.
Characteristics Interpersonal Loneliness
I define what exist. loneliness means for me. Every human is in some sense alone no matter how much love he receives from other people.(in my opinion) Though I think some people are better in distracting themselves from that fact. In my opinion this existential loneliness stems from the fact that we are alone in our mind and in our skin. No matter how perfectly we describe our pain other people cannot feel it. We don't really know for sure how other people feel and whether our consciousness is completely different to them. I like to read David Foster Wallace. He quoted a famous author in an interview. Good literature/ Art shall comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. I think this is kind of a good notion. In another interview he said literature is for him some sort of magic. It can make you feel as if you were in the skin/consciousness of someone else. DFW was brilliant in creating this feeling. I think this is one reason why I adore his work. It decreases my feeling of loneliness. But also when people in this forum relate to my posts I feel comforted.
Especially when I endured severe mental and psychosomatic torture I have realized no matter how accurate I describe my pain to another person the other person does not feel it. That someone listened to my words comforted me. A empathetic therapist in the clinic helped me a lot when I was really severely suicidal. It was like a valve for me. But at the same time I felt alienated from my environment. The pain was extremely intensive and I recognized the people around me just don't feel same way. Most people have not felt like this they probably did not even come close to it. I felt isolated but not in this interpersonal sense. In the clinic where I was I was at least surrounded by other human beings this helped a little bit. But my torture felt so unique and special. This thought was in some sense narcissistic. I started to read books which really comforted me. But there remains till today this feeling no matter how close I come to another person there is still this emptiness inside myself. This gap which is really hard to fill. I am not sure whether it is impossible to fill, I know some ways how I can cope with it. Trying to find a meaning in life. But there is always a part of me which is not satisfied with it.
What is your experience with these both types of lonelinesses. Tbh I think barely anyone will be interested in this thread. Ironically this could make me feel more lonely. But in other threads i get more replies.
5 Differences Between Existential Loneliness and Interpersonal Loneliness - Intellectual Takeout
When one thinks of loneliness it’s easy to visualize a person who does not have any friends, family, or acquaintances; being socially alone, without those
www.intellectualtakeout.org
Here are the characteristcs of each one.
Characteristics Interpersonal Loneliness
- Lack of relationships, separation, isolation
- Stems from being alone; social causes
- Dependent on the rise and fall of relationships
- Limited to the interpersonal aspect of life
- Can be solved through communication, closeness, love
- Lack of wholeness or feeling incomplete in your being
- An incompleteness of the self, or inward source
- A permanent lack of completeness, even in love
- Overshadows every aspect of life; cannot be isolated
- Cannot be resolved through love; unfulfillment & incompleteness continue
I define what exist. loneliness means for me. Every human is in some sense alone no matter how much love he receives from other people.(in my opinion) Though I think some people are better in distracting themselves from that fact. In my opinion this existential loneliness stems from the fact that we are alone in our mind and in our skin. No matter how perfectly we describe our pain other people cannot feel it. We don't really know for sure how other people feel and whether our consciousness is completely different to them. I like to read David Foster Wallace. He quoted a famous author in an interview. Good literature/ Art shall comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. I think this is kind of a good notion. In another interview he said literature is for him some sort of magic. It can make you feel as if you were in the skin/consciousness of someone else. DFW was brilliant in creating this feeling. I think this is one reason why I adore his work. It decreases my feeling of loneliness. But also when people in this forum relate to my posts I feel comforted.
Especially when I endured severe mental and psychosomatic torture I have realized no matter how accurate I describe my pain to another person the other person does not feel it. That someone listened to my words comforted me. A empathetic therapist in the clinic helped me a lot when I was really severely suicidal. It was like a valve for me. But at the same time I felt alienated from my environment. The pain was extremely intensive and I recognized the people around me just don't feel same way. Most people have not felt like this they probably did not even come close to it. I felt isolated but not in this interpersonal sense. In the clinic where I was I was at least surrounded by other human beings this helped a little bit. But my torture felt so unique and special. This thought was in some sense narcissistic. I started to read books which really comforted me. But there remains till today this feeling no matter how close I come to another person there is still this emptiness inside myself. This gap which is really hard to fill. I am not sure whether it is impossible to fill, I know some ways how I can cope with it. Trying to find a meaning in life. But there is always a part of me which is not satisfied with it.
What is your experience with these both types of lonelinesses. Tbh I think barely anyone will be interested in this thread. Ironically this could make me feel more lonely. But in other threads i get more replies.
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