Chronic loneliness: a natural human condition?

Chronic loneliness is a natural human condition, according to existentialists. When I first came across that statement, I didn’t quite believe it. How could such a painful and difficult state be the natural condition of human beings?

However, children only experience loneliness when they have no other child to play with. Lonely children often invent an imaginary playmate. The first pangs of loneliness are felt in adolescence when the human being feels the need to have a girlfriend or boyfriend. It seems to be the natural process of life: as soon as an individual sees the possibility of being independent from parents, the person’s thoughts turn to having a partner, moving on with life! It seems to be a natural and basic instinct. Not being able to attract a partner is a sad prospect, and although the person may not verbalize the sadness, it feels at a very deep level.

Upon reaching adulthood, the human being faces a fork in the road: either he goes on and adopts the customs of those around him, or he goes on his own. Fighting on your own is what often leads to the condition of chronic loneliness. Chronic loneliness can be a condition of those who have gone out on their own and also of those who have agreed with their society. Those who attack on their own are often nonconformists and have a hard time attracting mates. Those who have agreed with their society have repressed their own natural instincts and, although they may be in the company of others, they feel lonely.

So unless a human being attracts a partner at a young age and knows how to maintain the relationship, chronic loneliness is what he or she will fall back to. Even human beings who attract and maintain a mate can fall back into chronic loneliness as a natural state because their natural instincts are to fight their way through life. Only the lucky few understand the importance of maintaining all kinds of social relationships that escape the natural chronic loneliness of life.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *