loneliness is catching

Fascinating commentary on radio 4 today about research which suggests loneliness is catching-moving through clusters of friends-so if a friend of a friend of a friend of yours is lonely, it can move through to you. The commentator, a Harvard doctor, said it was obvious to him to view emotions as collective rather than individual. I find this very interesting-as it is a way of approaching the idea of people being connected to each other. The last bit of human culture has been about the rise of the individual, and arguably consumer culture with its woes has been one consequence of this. Different spheres of experience and knowledge are all coming up with new understandings of connectedness-from the increasing knowledge we have on the immense delicate feedback systems in natural ecoystems to an increased awareness of how we impact on everything and everyone around us, and how that can be optimally managed. It's quite a comforting thing to know-if you know you affect the cosmos around you in whatever cumulative incremental if intangible way, you are less likely to feel like an invisible speck of meaningless solipsism.

I remember after the July bombings in London in 2005, walking home across Hyde Park, feeling the whole city in shock. And in Jan 09, when there were big snows, the few people padding down the carpeted street acknowledged each other in solidarity. But aside from unusual circumstances, we aren't normally very conscious of any sense of collectivity. I feel most instinctively it would be good if the zeitgeist generally moved towards a trend where it was more normal to think like that, and the more we come to understand about such currently esoteric matters, the more enlightened we will be.