Loneliness (a discussion)

If you are not being touched at all, then speech is the closest contact it is possible to have with another human being.

• Olivia Laing | Lonely in the City

The topic of this month’s Taboo Symposium is loneliness. The illness no one wants to admit to or talk about, but no one gets away from at some point or another over time - the loneliness of being alone, and/or the (often far worse) loneliness of being amongst others/with the wrong people.

Author Jonathan Franzen speaks about how the ‘public’ realm has actually very much become a world saturated with a relentless kind of privacy; communal places are no longer filled with people who are open and receptive to those around them, but are relentlessly and reclusively preoccupied with their gadgets. And so many of us who are lonely do our utter best to project exactly the opposite, manufacturing a reality that everyone is striving for but does not actually exist.

Olivia Laing points out that so much of the pain of loneliness is to do with this compulsion so many of us have of have to hide our unhappiness, our need, our vulnerability. But what’s so shameful, she asks, about wanting, about desire, about having failed to achieve satisfaction, about experiencing unhappiness? Perhaps loneliness and longing does not mean one has failed, but simply that one is alive.

DISCUSSION FORMAT & PARTICULARS

Although Empathy is generally at the top of the list in this group, this is not meant as an outlet for extended narratives about the challenges of being single or how sad and quiet it is to be alone on the planet. (Believe me, many of us feel your pain ;) ) By this I mean, we will of course support all and any concerns that come up, but the focus is a more philosophical and pragmatic approach to the theme. Do keep in mind your motivations before speaking - this is a Group Conversation, to wit: lengthy monologues will be frowned upon.

RSVPing etc.
Please note the 'No flakeyness' policy on the 'about this group' page will be in full effect regarding RSVPs and attendance.

LANGUAGE / SPRACHE

Obwohl diese Veranstaltungen wahrscheinlich auf Englisch stattfinden werden, könntet ihr sehr gern Deutsch sprechen, wir übersetzen gerne! Wenn alle Anwesenden sowieso Deutsche sprechen, wechseln wir auch gern Sprachen.