Walking With You

--To those who are lonely

By Fu Ming

I

When a life is born into the world it brings with it both love and loneliness.

The love comes from God's good will in Creation, but the loneliness comes from man's ignorance of this good will.

When a child cries he is expressing his loneliness, seeking comfort. So Mother cuddles him, embracing and caressing him; she comforts him with soft lullabies and feeds him at her breast.

Then gradually he grows up, he learns to talk and interact with the world and the people around him. But he still remains lonely.

Wherever he is, whether it be in foreign lands, at merry social gatherings, on city streets or onstage following the curtain-fall, the loneliness can still launch its sudden assaults on him. It will not go away.

II

Men are lonely because there are no two people whose experiences are exactly the same.

The old story of the blind men and the elephant may give us the illusion that the blind man's dilemma could have been solved if he had simply changed his position. But if the elephant is infinitely large in both time and space, then touching it can no longer be a mere three-dimensional action. Rather, it will be a matter of a total experience, the interweaving of image, color, sound, taste, feel, imagination and memory. It is the whole process by which man with all his limitations endeavors to grasp the infinite. And the outcome of the touching will not be yet just another endless argument. How dreadful if all our personal inner struggles were to escalate into struggles between men or between groups of men!

III

Man is often lonely. And man is afraid of loneliness.

Don't you wish that that happy banquet would never end? Don't you long that those eyes fixed on you would never move away? We fear death because we believe death is eternal loneliness. Our eyes and our hearts are constantly searching.

We stand still in front of a painting. But what is that painting?

We weep at a piece of music. But what is that music?

It is simply one sensitive, lonely and anxious soul whose life has overflowed and transformed itself into a sign, and it has been waiting, probably for a long, long time, for an answering echo from another heart in a different corner of the world.

IV

Little snapshots of life can probably be expressed in some way or another, but do you really understand life itself?

Do you know the story of the streams as they flow into the sea? Can you describe how an arrow, as it is shot from the bow, misses the target before it vanishes?

Loneliness that can be described is not loneliness.

Life is expression.

Sometimes the expression is so wild that even Mother's comforting lullaby cannot extinguish it.

I am who I am. I cannot become you.

All expressions of loneliness are doomed to return to loneliness.

V

Each life is unique. And it is this very uniqueness which seems to have determined our loneliness. But for the same reason each life is precious in the eyes of the Creator.

The One who has granted us life sees our loneliness. Before his crucifixion he endured humiliation and exhaustion. The One who had never been separated from the Father, Jesus the Son of God, suddenly experienced the ultimate loneliness of being separated from the Father. He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

That vast image of loneliness hangs poised between heaven and earth. It is intended for all those who are lonely.

VI

When one lonely man meets another, the loneliness miraculously vanishes.

Wherever we are we are lonely. And the only cure for loneliness is when His loneliness touches our loneliness.

Have you heard his tender words of comfort, his voice calling?

Let us break out from the self-centeredness that holds our life in bondage, and let us cast ourselves on this love that forever surrounds us. This love is revealed to us in the life of one man - Jesus Christ. He who follows this life walks in the light with him.

VII

One heart can only be awakened by another heart.

Truthfulness can only be bought by truthfulness.

Likewise, loneliness can only be touched by loneliness. Only a life which itself knows loneliness can carry true compassion and love for other lives.

Because he understands the loneliness of the one who strikes his left cheek, he chooses to turn to him the other cheek also.

Because he understands the loneliness of the person who takes his tunic, he chooses to let him have his cloak as well.

Because he understands the loneliness of the one who has forced him to go one mile, he chooses to go the second mile with him.

Because he understands the loneliness of the one who grieves and weeps, he never attempts to comfort him with weak pallid words. Rather, he steps into his loneliness - he weeps with him.

VIII

I am who I am. I cannot become you.

So I can love you!

IX

Life is expression. It can become an expression of love.

Life comes from God. Therefore it should demonstrate the radiance of God's love.

All thanks to the Heavenly Father who has given us loneliness so that we may share, love and seek out the loneliness of others.

Life becomes abundant when it is filled with love. When love finishes its expression on earth, the soul will leave loneliness forever and return to the eternal love of the Heavenly Father.

The author came from Beijing. He is now a graduate student of physics in New York State University.