Book reviewed in this article: The Meaning of Illness. By S. Kay Toombs.

The inner ache: an experiential perspective on IonelinessThis paper examines the various theoretical approaches that have informed both the conceptualizations and the research approaches to investigations of loneliness. A focus on phenomenological and existential perspectives of loneliness can assist in an understanding of what is essentially a subjective distressing experience. The elderly, particularly those residing in nursing homes, are vulnerable to feelings of existential loneliness because following busy lives, often they are left without meaningful roles. Concomitant to this sense of (...) loss of meaning is an alteration in the perception of lived time. It is the purpose of this paper to stimulate research into what is a common but profoundly distressing experience. (shrink)

As Milton reminds us, the first thing God named not good was loneliness. In proclaiming it not good for man to be alone, was God but projecting his own loneliness? In the words of James Weldon Johnson, God stepped out on space, looked around and said, ‘I'm lonely’.Johnson's concept of God may be very ‘spaced-out’ but the notion of a monotheistic God as lonely is far from preposterous. A God endlessly immersed in the contemplation of its solitary perfection would be (...) an isolation anything but splendid. Such a being might be perfect as an abstract essence, but it would be perfectly alone. (shrink)