The Great Belonging and Taylor Swift: Chapter Two
See a list of all The Great Belonging and Taylor Swift posts here.
The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other is available here and wherever books are sold.
Image of the first paragraph of chapter two of The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other
It’s time to pair another chapter from The Great Belonging with a song by Taylor Swift.
I chose "Evermore" to represent chapter two of The Great Belonging, "Core Loneliness."
“Core loneliness” is a term Tom Varney coined several years ago in a tiny little book on loneliness. Varney put words around something I had felt my whole life. I think some of us experience core loneliness more than others. Here’s an excerpt from chapter two that describes core loneliness:
Image from an excerpt from chapter two of The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other
Sometimes I wish I was oblivious to my loneliness. But I’m not.
At least I have a better understanding of it now.
I picked “Evermore” for this chapter because the lyrics and tone correspond with many of my thoughts about loneliness and how I’ll probably struggle with this particular form of core loneliness forever. Still, at the same time, the pain of my loneliness really is so much less than it used to be before I began talking and writing openly about my experiences of loneliness.
*
Thanks so much for following along!
You can learn more about this chapter, the book, and other things in this Behind the Scenes with The Great Belonging Chapter Two video.
Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers™. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. She’s currently writing her next book, Spiritual Direction for Writers, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2024.