Being physically alone does
not necessarily equal to loneliness.
Many people are at their busiest
when alone, attending to a myriad of overlapping chores that run the gamut from
physical to mental.
One would even venture to
declare that it is when people are constrained to choose to be alone when they
are in the thickest of crowds, leaving them little time for their own personal
struggles.
In the same way that one
could be in the middle of a thicket of people and things when one feels so
solitary and loneliest.
Because as the holy books
say, you are where your mind is and not necessarily where your physical being
finds itself at the moment.
While the hustle and bustle
of urban living makes difficult the urge to concentrate on one specific thing,
it is by no means inevitable or insurmountable.
It requires focus and practice. And the recourse to a methodical
approach to arrive at a calm solitude in the midst of overwhelming distractions
we daily find ourselves.
The method or process goes by
many names, but it resides in our very nature and will respond to all when
called upon. Many of us call it the pre-destined
call of prayer, the lifting up of our hearts and mind to eternity, amidst the
tumult of this world.
A method once familiarized
and standardized can be reliably called upon to bring calm and focus however seemingly
formidable the unavoidable vicissitudes of life may buffet and unnerve us.