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The Problem of Loneliness :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

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The Problem of Loneliness


In theology http://research-paper-writing245.mystrikingly.com/ class, loneliness was defined as the experience of being disconnected, unrelated, or cut off from the Other. The Other is something that fulfills a dimension of the human person, that pushes one to enter into relationships, be it with God or another human. In core humanities we examined St. Augustine’s spiritual autobiography, The Confessions of St. Augustine, and credited him with defining the concept. However, many other writers since Augustine’s time have also worked with this notion of loneliness. Dante while writing his famous cantos about the afterlife and, more recently, Sr. Helen Prejean in her novel Dead Man Walking both eloquently elaborated on the idea that it is necessary for humans to enter into relationships.

Humanity’s need for the Other becomes more and more apparent in Dante’s Inferno as Dante descends deeper into Hell. In the upper circles of Hell, Dante describes punishments that fit the various sins the sinners committed while they were alive. The sinners are punished with an overindulgence of their sin.