When I was in college, my Humanities Professor was as close to a mentor as I have ever had, outside of my father. My mentors’ mentor was Loren Eisley, a poet and naturalist that lived in the first half of the 20th century. One of the essays that Eisley is famous for is ‘The Long Loneliness’. I have never truly appreciated his point of view in that essay until now.
According to Eisley, everyone lives their entire lives alone. You may think that you have friends, are truly interacting with and influencing others but in actuality you are just all alone in your head. What reality is for you may be a totally different animal for someone else. Thus, you may think that you are ‘sharing’ your sorrows or your challenges with someone, when, in reality, you are just living your life alone in your mind.
I must remember this when I am going through the obstacles that lie in my path. I am the only one who can overcome them and I am the only one that is truly affected by them. Any help or ‘sympathy’ or ‘empathy’ I may receive is just an illusion. Only I can win my battles. Any thoughts to the contrary will only weaken my fight. I am the one that I must rely on. Me and my God. All else will fail me.
I wish only to keep this knowledge close to my breast cause in this will come my strength.
According to Eisley, everyone lives their entire lives alone. You may think that you have friends, are truly interacting with and influencing others but in actuality you are just all alone in your head. What reality is for you may be a totally different animal for someone else. Thus, you may think that you are ‘sharing’ your sorrows or your challenges with someone, when, in reality, you are just living your life alone in your mind.
I must remember this when I am going through the obstacles that lie in my path. I am the only one who can overcome them and I am the only one that is truly affected by them. Any help or ‘sympathy’ or ‘empathy’ I may receive is just an illusion. Only I can win my battles. Any thoughts to the contrary will only weaken my fight. I am the one that I must rely on. Me and my God. All else will fail me.
I wish only to keep this knowledge close to my breast cause in this will come my strength.
