(The last 18 minutes of this class is here: https://youtu.be/AAep0c_9JH0)
Loneliness is one of the least understood — and discussed — experiences in life. In its silence loneliness remains shrouded from conscious view. Is loneliness a silent killer or a silent strength? Is it a product of disconnectedness and lack of companionship, or even with good relationships we remain in many ways alone? Is there a form of healthy vs. unhealthy loneliness? Isn’t uniqueness an oft companion of loneliness? Are some people wired to be loners? Or are we all, at heart, loners? And some simply cover it up and continuously distract themselves by keeping busy and surrounding themselves with friends and external stimulation? Clearly, some of us are lonelier, or more loner types, than others. But even those that don’t seem isolated and have many friends can be quite lonely. Is there a difference between being lonely and being a loner? What consequences does loneliness have? How does it contribute to our other challenges? Do you ever feel alone and misunderstood? And above all, should we be doing something when we feel alone? Can we be alone together?
Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this piercing Tazria-Metzora workshop and enter into the innermost recesses of our unique — and often lonely — souls. Discover how to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy loneliness and how to transform the “lonely” nature of your special qualities into a positive form of singularity. How you can fuse together that which makes you stand apart with that which connects you to others; how to integrate your individuality and your relationships, without one compromising the other. For together with our self-reliance, “If I am not for me who will be for me?” — we also need each other: “if I am on my own alone what am i?”
