The Quiet Shape of Loneliness People often imagine loneliness very simply: a lonely person sits alone in a dark apartment, staring sadly through a rainy window while dramatic piano music plays somewhere in the background. Reality is usually much less cinematic, and much more complicated. Deep loneliness is not really about being physically alone. Some people spend weeks by themselves and feel perfectly peaceful. Others sit in crowded rooms, surrounded by friends, coworkers, family and constant messages, yet still carry the strange feeling that they are somehow disconnected from the rest of humanity. As if everyone else received an instruction manual for life and relationships, and theirs got lost somewhere during shipping. The Feeling That Nobody Would Notice One of the first things that happens in deep loneliness is subtle but powerful. A person slowly loses the feeling of social safety. Most emotionally connected people carry an unconscious belief somewhere inside themselves:...