Editors’ note: A person who is isolated and lonely may be rejecting everybody, including himself. Many people who think they are rejected are inwardly rejecting themselves, their parents and the establishment. Cavilling can be a way of rejecting others.

Loneliness comes from our identification with the body as the self, a separate unit, instead of seeing that we are a part of the Earth. When we cease to identify with the body we realise that loneliness is imaginary. If a person believes that God resides in him he can never be lonely. There can be a yearning for God in the spirit, but this is part of a person’s growth, part of the quest of the lover for the Beloved. Later on, the person realises there is no lover and no Beloved.