The Social Hermit

   “Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.”

― Paul Tillich 

I am never alone. We are connected by virtue of living on the same planet. What connects or separates us is our attitude of connectivity. Everything is connected, but if we cannot acknowledge that in our own minds, we fool ourselves into thinking we are alone, and thus suffer loneliness. 
We are a bunch of collected molecules interacting in a sea of molecules, some of which we see, and a lot that we don't see. Air is not nothing. It is an ocean of  gases and particulates in which we move and breathe and sense the world we live in. The air I touch right here connects through a string of molecules to the air Pope Francis breathes in Rome. That alone proves our uber-connectivity to all things.
So, the hermit who chooses to live alone stays connected to the world and all its life by virtue of an attitude: I am not alone. I am connected to the world I live in, the home and neighborhood I live in, the people I pray for, and the Life in all that is. Sela.