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Loneliness
Loneliness, what is it? What is it to be alone?

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Loneliness
180 Proof
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Posted 10/15/09 - 09:49 PM:
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#21
Minyun wrote:
180 Proof wrote:
By "this" do you mean 'lonely' or 'alone'?

Why are they different?

Well, because one is a disposition and the other is a situation.

The question isn't "Which explanations do I believe?" but rather "Which explanations do I least disbelieve?"

Absence of evidence THAT MUST BE THERE (i.e. implied by any claim, concept, or (its) predicates, that affects changes in/to the world) entails evidence of absence.

[What cannot be done?[What cannot be hoped?[What cannot be known?]]]
Minyun
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Posted 10/16/09 - 03:42 AM:
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#22
180 Proof wrote:
Well, because one is a disposition and the other is a situation.


The principles are exactly the same. lonely/alone = not with. What in this world/universe is 100% 'with' or rather as I had put it, 'together'?
Primero
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Posted 10/16/09 - 03:51 AM:
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#23
It seems the words have more than one sense and are sometimes synonomus, other times not.
Minyun
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Posted 10/16/09 - 04:05 AM:
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#24
Milk, cheese, yoghurt, icecream... they may seem quite different at the surface, but they are all dairy products. Let us talk in the macro rather than the micro.
ethicist
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Posted 10/16/09 - 09:33 AM:
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#25
Loneliness to me is the feeling you get when you cannot find a mutual appreciation of certain fundamental value(s) with anyone.
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Posted 10/16/09 - 03:24 PM:
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#26
Have you though ever truly tried getting a large teddy bear and laying on top of it. And then tie it's arms together. That way it keeps 'hugging you'. Without intent - the teddy bear is an infinitely better tool for the physical hug if you can only ever find somebody whose intent isn't what you are looking for.


Hmmm.... I cannot afford a pair of hands and slavery is for the most part illegal. Oh, and I can't afford the illegal hands either. I obviously can't shake hands.

"...There was a writer who asked why it was that when we find positive experiences we say that only the physical facts are real, but in negative experiences we believe that reality is subjective. He made an example of those who say that in birth only the pain is real, the joy a subjective point of view, but that in death it is the emotional loss that is the reality." - Tony Ballantyne, Recursion.
_____________________________________________

Truth is want. - The internal state of matters.

Truth is Need. - The external state of affairs.
Minyun
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Posted 10/17/09 - 12:52 AM:
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#27
It would seem that to observe a thing creates its individuality, its 'loneliness' or rather its 'state of being alone'. Can we conclude that nothing in the observable universe is 'together'?

By the virtue of dualism, does that mean that all that isn't observed is what we should call 'together'? Considering that we cannot observe 'nothing', is 'nothing' what is truly 'together', 100%?
duszek
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Posted 10/17/09 - 10:36 AM:
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#28
What is it that makes people feel together ?
Some people seem to feel a strange, even magic connection between them.
I think that it is the emotional intelligence which enables us to create this connection. If A understands well how B feels and acts friendly toward B, then B feels good and understood. And this is the connection between the two.
MasterSean2k
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Posted 10/18/09 - 10:34 PM:
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#29
180 Proof hit the nail on the head:
180 Proof wrote:
I suppose loneliness denotes the longing for company, or not to be alone.

Loneliness is an emotional response to the perceived state of being alone. As social beings, "alone" means independent, isolated, and devoid or lacking relations with others. This, I believe, relates to the self-forming concepts of mattering (belief in one's importance to others) and efficacy (belief that one's actions have meaningful consequences). If I matter, I feel a connection to the people who value me; if I don't, I feel a disconnect from those who don't care. If I have efficacy, I feel a connection to those whom my actions affect; if I don't, I feel a disconnect from those on whom my existence has no bearing.

Again, this "aloneness" is entirely perceptual. It is not necessarily an actual isolation, but the appearance and belief that I am alone. Hence:

mayor of simpleton wrote:
Loneliness and being alone are, for me, not the same thing. I often feel very lonely when in the presence of larger groups.

In larger groups, my perceptions of mattering and efficacy are hindered. I feel that my presence in a larger group does not affect the group's functioning and that I am unable to contribute anything that could not be contributed by others within the group. I feel alone, and respond by feeling lonely.

Other people have the opposite effect, feeling in larger groups that their peers depend on their input and that their actions determine the success of the group. These people do not feel alone, and thus are not lonely.

~MS2k
Minyun
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Posted 10/19/09 - 01:03 AM:
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#30
Clearly this isn't quite being understood.

Minyun wrote:
What in this world/universe is 100% 'with' or rather as I had put it, 'together'?


If I stood on the edges of the universe and looked upon it, it would seem alone.

Think about the true meaning of the words, alone and together. There cannot be anything that is 100% together, for if it were it would cease to be many and become one, bringing it back to its 'state of being alone'.

Does that make more sense?
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