Alone: From 'all ana' (old English) meaning, in essence, 'all one.' This photo was taken several years ago in the Thar Desert, conveying a sense of peace in the solitary. Images like words can reveal but also obscure.
There in the magnificent Thar I was neither absent of company nor many illusions and needs, the crowd within me that beautiful day. In a state of joy - not alone in any perceived sense as I was looking into a mirror. My mirror wasn't alone either. Just the two of us and our crowds, far from 'one,' imagining the other had something much desired, the key to release.
I've been experiencing some timeless alone these interesting days. It's come to me that aloneness is often identified as what it isn't, rather than what it is. It's been understood as a time 'without.' Very often, it's perceived as either an escape (from others, ultimately ourselves) or the default, time when others aren't available. It's been measured by what it isn't...but I'm interested in what it is, what it offers us.
In these days of shifting sands, I've heard many say in consolatory terms, 'but we are never alone.' This may be a truth but it also easily obscures and becomes another kind of 'crowd.' We're longing for faraway places we aren't, for faces that quiet the clamouring crowd.
The desert being largely glass, is full of reflections. We are all one in innumerable mirrors, in each and every-'one' we see. We are also infinitely alone, with a blink of awareness we may see beyond the crowd.