A question of loneliness

So, here's a story about a guy who decides to kill a bunch of women in a health club because he couldn't understand why women didn't like him. He hadn't slept with a woman for 19 years, and as he watched young couples in their 20s together every day, he felt desolation at the thought of living his life alone for the rest of his life. At the end of this desolation, he decided to kill himself, taking several others along with him. This is an extreme example of what a person might do once his loneliness consumes him, but for most people, loneliness occurs without them realizing it.

Loneliness happens when there's a lack of purpose in one's life, and as this void seeps into one's consciousness, it manifests itself into different symptoms-- for example, a deep feeling of boredom, an unexplainable desire for excitement, or something to do with friends (clubbing, dining, rafting, skydiving, or what have you). This social interaction masks and compensates for this void. That isn't to say that people who have friends are lonely, but rather, lonely people need friends because this social circle creates a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Afterall, what does the phrase, "have a life" mean? It is, in fact, referring to social life and the activities within. Friends, husbands, wives, dogs, cats, they're all included.

This sense of meaning goes deeper than one's driven purpose in life (i.e. why am I here?) as it fulfills its fundamental essence. In some of my evolutionary arguments, I often ask, "why do we have a face?" Did we "evolve" to have a face just because its convenient for our eyes to be right on top of our noses? No. This is why I'm a creationist, not an evolutionist. We have a face so it can be seen by others-- this is the purpose of one's face... i.e. a man exist not for himself, but so that others can see him.

Is it any surprise, then, that social networking like facebook, friendster, etc, on the internet have grown to the size that it has? These sites exist because people need them. They need them so they can tell their friends what they're doing, what they're feeling, what they're eating, what they're living. But why? Why do people need to broadcast to their friends what they're doing or whether they feel happy or sad? The answer is that they need to do this in order to validate their lives. For example, there is no point in winning the lottery if you're the only person that exists in this world.. If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, then the tree might as well have never existed.

Understanding this is the beginning to the wisdom of faith. A person in whom God lives, is never lonely, because he is never without purpose.

"If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you." - John 15:19