Are we lonely or just alone??

I first read about 'loneliness' and 'aloneness' in a article by Osho - the legendary & controversial Indian Mystic. It was one of the most intriguing articles I have read and it really made me wonder about the depth of these words in my life.

Was I lonely or alone?

With 'loneliness' there is a feeling of incompleteness as though something is missing and there is a looking for something more to experience completeness.

'Aloneness' is complete in itself.
It is a realization.
It is existence.

I remember the first time this realization of being alone hit me. My Art of Living teacher Rajalaxmi Ratan (or Rajima for me) said that we are practically alone - each one of us. She just said it and IT HIT ME HOME. I am alone!! Even the one most dearest to me cannot partake my share of the baggage for me - forget carry it for me. I am alone on this journey to seeking myself. At first it was a disappointment and also brought sadness with it. The sudden knowing that 'I am all alone and that there is only me. Only me exists. In this journey of knowing, I am alone. Even my Guru is there and yet He isnt. There is a threshold to which I can be guided and from there the journey is my very own.' And yet with that realization dawned a freedom which is sweetest in its existence. In that aloneness I sensed a completeness. I can relax now. I can love everyone around me 100% without attachment or the need to feel complete. I knew that I will never be lonely again.

From the day I read about aloneness to this day, I have experienced varied depths of my aloneness and have risen (instead of saying 'fallen') in love with myself over & over again. I am my best friend. I no longer feel any shame in declaring that I simply love myself & cherish every minute I spend with myself. I have relaxed my expectations of the people around me.

My aloneness is not a triumphing ego bloating in its own glory. It is an aloneness inclusive of the universe!! It is a knowing that you are alone anyway in this journey and you are the ONLY one. You look around and see merely your reflection in every single being. The separation with the world & resistence to life drops. There is immense love & peace with oneself and that extends to the universe around me.

And in my aloneness, I experience a completeness with the physical realm and yet, there is a deep longing for the Divine. And it is a sweet longing!! When tears flow, there is no longer any sadness .. there is only love .. deep love. There is an intense desire to merge with infinity ... to drop being ... to only exist.
There is also the knowing that everything is perfect the way it is in this moment!! Perfection lies in this moment - BEAUTY INDEED LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER!!

And does the aloneness stay all the time!! If it did, then for sure I am enlightened!! :-)
Definetely not all the time but yes the awareness of it never falters - either of its presence of or its absence. Everytime it has shifted I realised that was ok too!! It helped me become more alone and complete. Only the thirsty knows the true value of water and also, only in the moments of loneliness have I realised the power of aloneness, and its value in my life..

You know there is a joy in experiencing the absence of aloneness with the awareness of it. And what is loneliness - but a aftermath of a broken or bruised expectation. And the realization of it brings you back into completeness - well it was not yours in the first place to expect or it is yours anyway with or without expectations.

Give me more and more experience of aloneness and completeness, My Divine!!
Let me soak in the beauty of my being and its infinite realms of existence.
And as I soak more & more in the aloneness of the being,
will the beings in my reality also experience the aloneness of the being.

To aloneness and its Beautiful Journey to knowing oneself!!