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Why do we fear being alone?
We are born alone, and we die alone, and it is often confused with being lonely. But people hesitate to go out to dine by themselves, or to the movies. Having a partner, or many friends has been romanticized and sensationalized so much that being by yourself has become abnormal. You are either termed as a loner or wierd.
What caused this fear of always needing somebody in our life that we have build institutions with strong legal and social bindings?
Random Chance 30+
First, most fears are taught.
Humans are born with only two, I believe it is. Fear of falling and fear of loud noises. (scientifically today, that list may have been proven to be a higher number. I do not know)
We are taught to be afraid of being alone, perhaps by a parent or someone who has suffered with that fear, or has actually experienced it and found it maddeningly terrifying.
Just as one who deeply and personally experienced the dust bowl poverty that occurred in America many years ago, scarred them such that they never used a bank again and stored real cash underneath their mattress.
Another reason could be that humans have been brainwashed to be social in ways that bring, apply and attach a stigmatization on them that inhibits them some way in their psyche, so they feel this uncomfortableness, similar maybe to embarrassment, which no one likes, causing them to worry about what others say. So they avoid being alone.
Moral teaching can also cause it as you alluded to with the idea that somehow there is something very wrong with someone who is alone. There isn't, but there again is another use/example of fear being used through embedding it into people and how it affects them to wrongly, falsely and many times, dangerously label others.
Another reason might be the fear of going insane. I think being afraid of our thoughts (false moralizing also applies here), involves this. Smoking, talking on the phone, using headphones all the time, always having music, tv or something on so that one doesn't have to listen to their own thinking. Alcoholics commonly refer to the 20 or 30 voices in their heads that are driving them crazy and so to shut them up, they will return to a drink. That just gets them going again however.
Another reason could be because we are alone. It ties in with other things I've said, because the truth is not wanted by most. We are alone even with friends there as we go through stuff.
So, we seek connection
Luis Javier López Arredondo
I consider the universal fear to the unknown.
Gail . 50+
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
We are made to love; to give love and to receive it. We are made to share intimacy with someone. Sometimes our selfishness and obsession with materialism isolates us and makes us sad.
There are times when we have to be alone in order to meditate and commune with God. But we fear being alone without God or love because it is not good!
W. Ying 10+
Being alone is one in a position without SYMBIOSIS, which is necessary for people to survive.
That causes the fear.
richard moody jr 10+
Jedrek Stepien 10+
The only problem with being alone is, perhaps, the inability to realize oneself i.e. to make progress. I think, we realize ourselves only with others. One needs to say something out loud or materialize their thoughts (write/print/shoot), before what has previously been only implicit begins to be objectively recognized (even by the speaker) and starts to affect the reality.
Conscious knowledge can only result from an adequate expression. And in order to express what is inside, one needs an audience, readers, somebody, anybody.
This is also why taking part in the discussion is so important. Listening or just reading is not enough. One has to materialize his thoughts.
Wow, I am smarter now! Thanks!
neha jain
I do fear alone or being lonely. During my college life i used to sit alone, i was introvert and very shy (infact i m still introvert and shy, a little less) . I had very few friends in my class. And i felt very lonely, i spent my college life watching people hanging out together and forming groups and intimate friendships, sometimes i thought do i even have a voice, thoughts occured in my mind nd i felt frustrated because i did nt had any close friends to express and share my feelings and thoughts.
I think we fear aloneness because as a humen being we crave to express ourselves, nd i fully agree with your thoughts Jedrek Stepien