Lonely in Our Isolation

Lonely:  Alone; solitary; a standing apart of others from your kind; sad because one has no friends or company.

Isolation: The condition of being alone, especially when this makes one feel unhappy (stresses detachment from others, often involuntarily).

From an Alcoholics Anonymous pamplet entitled "Many Paths To Spirituality" . . . . 

"Alcoholism can be a lonely affair.  Often, we drank to keep the pain of life at arm's length, and then, when the pain overran us, we drank to wash it away.  Our families, friends, employers and even complete strangers began to pull away from us, wary of our denials and skeptical of our many lies and pledges to stay sober."

Boy, do I know a lot about those "pledges" to stay sober.  What I was pledging was to keep lying as long as I could get away with it.  I'd say whatever you wanted me to stay if you would just get off my back.  "Denials" are also quite familiar to me.  Saying that you didn't do something even though it was completely transparent that you did that exact thing.

I was musing idly in my aimless retirement about that informal saying "Bring the body and the mind will follow."  I was directed in my journey to first act well, then speak well, then think well . . .or at least try to think well.  I'm awfully secure in my speech and my actions today while freely admitting that my thoughts occasionally veer into the uncharitable and sometimes get quite close to the murderous.  I give my self a break on this.  I can kill you in my mind as long as I don't actually kill you or even tell you that I'm going to kill you.  But we do get better physically, then mentally, and finally, spiritually.  It's that last one that has the occasional trip wire.

Boom!