Thoughts On Isolation
Can the soul die from a lack of caressing, from a dearth of touching? Will science one day discover in some study that the light of the soul is maintained bright by human encounters, by touching, talking, knowing – by that friendly tap of fingers on the back of a hand or nudge of a shoulder, or the emotive sounds of tears and laughter.
I have never studied it, but there is something unique and powerful in the energy of the soul, the light caged within flesh. We are all a unique power source. A torch. A mobile charging station. And mobility, the movement into rooms filled with burning, living, breathing, is what charges us, keeps us running, keeps us going, keeps us human.
Will science one day discover that our fears, anxieties, insecurities, our taking sides for tribes that separate instead of unifying and even the shape of our individual identities were harmed, bruised, wilted, by the years of fear and enforcement of isolation?
We are souls, and we did not know it-before it was taken from us-how much we needed to stand in the grocery line, almost touching strangers with our energy, their frown, their grin, the whine of that demanding child. It was once an imposition. Lines and crowds and waiting too long for waiters at restaurants. But now…how many of us ache for the brush of stranger’s shoulder against our own?
My soul won’t die. Nor will yours. But I hope I do not forget. I hope one day, being out and about and the sharing and collecting of human energy, will be a privilege I can be grateful for.
25th January