Alone is a state of being. Not loneliness, but aloneness. It is something sought rather than avoided. You can find it in just a moment, a breath: in Central Park, or early morning on the street, sitting on a stoop, or leaning against the window of a bus or subway car, alone in a throng of commuters. Sometimes in a grocery store, I’ll turn into an aisle and find the row to myself, and I’ll pause to relish the emptiness before the next shopping cart rounds the corner.
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We do need others, just not all the time. The tincture of solitude is worth a thousand conversations.
Not Loneliness, But Aloneness — by Craig Childs
http://www.awakin.org/read/view.php?op=audio&tid=2316
