EL OTRO,
EL MISMO
In The Lonely Hour
The curtain of reality sometimes pulls back, allowing us a glimpse of the backstage structure. I believe every introspective individual has experienced such moments: a sense of alienation emerges, all meaning is stripped from things, symbols completely disintegrate, and the individual detaches from that familiar safe anchor. In these moments, there is profound existential pain, and the relationship between people and the world is severely shaken. Nothing and no one can help us, and it is in these moments that we experience the most complete sense of existential loneliness. Otto Rank believes that the process of growth is a process of separation, autonomy, self-reliance, independence, individualization, becoming oneself, and being independent. Not separating means not growing, and the cost of separation and growth is loneliness. The conflict inherent in this dilemma is referred to by Fritz Künkel as the "universal conflict" of humanity. "To become an individual, one must bear the complete, fundamental, eternal, and insurmountable loneliness."
- Chun Wang