Loneliness is perhaps one of the most painful
affective states a person can experience. It is a subjective experience that most of us have, at some point in our lives,
had. It may be experienced as an intense emptiness or solitude, an isolation from others both internal and/or external. Or,
it can be experienced as grief; a loneliness in the presence of others. It can be also be understood by its duration (e.g.,
temporary or chronic) or, as Sartre noted, an essential feature of the human condition. Sartre believed this condition arose
from conflict between the need to create meaning in life and the awareness of isolation or nothingness in the universe.
Sheila
Hafter Gray, a CPRinc Trustee, is on the organizing committee of Symposium 2012. The CPRinc encourages its member organizations
to participate.
