Tautological Koan on Loneliness
Lonely-
myself, only. *
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.. * A tautology, in the sense of “going in a circle.” Try it: lonely myself only only myself lonely. Myself, only, lonely. It sounds like “only the lonely”.
A koan in the sense that it could be a riddle, used to enlighten the mind. If there is wisdom, to be found, that is. Subject and object seem to collide. There is an “I”, who is lonely. It is not “I”, who is lonely. Somebody, somewhere, is lonely.
They say loneliness is on the rise. The author of these three words may or may not have known that. It is possible to be lonely in the company of others. Loneliness is isolation in a crowd, there is that too. Lonely, myself, only, even as the crowd of suited people cross the light towards me, in the financial district (trousers now show ankles, as is fashionable for men, but maybe when you are reading this, longer cuffs are now in fashion again).
And you: you could stand in the middle of the busiest town square in the world and feel lonely. I would call this your “modern malady”, but indeed you have always felt that way.
No teacher, then, could possibly extract wisdom from these three words. But these three words exist, and you exist. If you have never felt loneliness, those three words mean nothing to you.
No wandering monk can explain their meaning. Their meaning is self-evident, tautological fact.
And so we end, where we begin.
Lonely-
myself, only.
