One and OK

In modern society, the idea of individualism dominates, but loneliness is often perceived as a personal failure. We discover in ourselves a desire for both freedom and closeness, which was vividly demonstrated by the experience of isolation during the pandemic. In his essays, German writer and journalist Daniel Schreiber examines this seeming paradox, referring to the works of philosophers (from Aristotle and Michel Foucault to Hannah Arendt and Gilles Deleuze), literary works (from Jane Austen to Annie Ernaux), current studies of practicing psychotherapists, and even popular sitcoms. And he arrives at the hopeful thought that building hierarchies of life models may not be the best idea, and the word 'loneliness' is associated not only with dark tones.