we should realize that the practice of meditation takes us on a journey that is very personal and very lonely. only the individual meditator knows what he or she is doing, and it is a very lonely journey. even if you are sharing the journey with other people, those other individuals' experience is different, totally different, in terms of how the journey really affects them. so, it's a lonely journey. there is no support, no specific guideline. you may have been told to do this and do that, but that's just at the beginning--so that you know how to be lonely.
student: what would be the difference between the conventional relationship and the relationship of practitioners.
Trungpa rinpoche: the two people have a similarity in their type of loneliness. One particular person reminds another more of his or her own loneliness. you feel that your partner, in seeing you feels more lonely. whereas with the sangha, it's more a matter of equal shares. there's al pervasive loneliness, ubiquitous loneliness, happening all over the place.
student: would you say that loneliness is love?
Trungpa rinpoche: I think you could say that.
from "The Path is the Goal"
