(work in progress / 2024/2025)
«If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely.»
From a more existentialist approach, the way we are perceived also influences our self-perception. From a relentless pursuit of love and acceptance we try to meet the expectations of others, shaping our behaviour and even our thoughts to fit in. When this does not happen and there is a deviation between expectation and reality, we generate a feeling of isolation and loneliness.
According to Derek Bowskill, more and more people are feel lonely; their lives consist of proximity without presence, contiguity without contact and familiarity without feeling.
Attachments do not necessarily make us feel less lonely. At a time when they are so fragile and superficial, we can be in the company of others and feel loneliness in the same way. There is a distance between us, as if we live with screens that we use as shields in front of us.
Loneliness is «the most devastating malaise of the age», said Paul Toumier.
