- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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Loneliness: The Silent Pandemic
All Together. All Connected. But All Isolated, Separated and Alone
The message is clear: We must create a path to human connection and interaction, if we care about humanity, civility, health and wellbeing.
Lest it has been forgotten, artificial/virtual relationships aren’t the cure for loneliness - they’re a symptom of it.
Illustration by Chloe Cushman. Photo credit:NBC News
Preface
From time immemorial the yearning for meaningful and shared togetherness has always been powerful. This is what makes us human.
But, today, in this digital/virtual world, I am worried about lonely educators and students, lonely politicians and lonely economists, lonely technology/ IT/computer games designers and developers, lonely children and lonely youth, lonely nurses and doctors, lonely artists and filmmakers, lonely parents and grandparents,...lonely people everywhere…beautifully summed up by the Beatles in Eleanor Rigby:
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
The loneliness epidemic is the blight on our humanity
Rethinking Loneliness: Harnessing New Approaches
A retired academic economist trying to explain how modern life is making us so lonely.
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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As the complexity of my life grew, I discovered a gem: The key to Happiness is a simpler living, when life becomes all about finding joys in the simple pleasures of life, being content with solitude, quiet, contemplation, the awe of the daily sunrise and sunset, savouring the moment, the centrality of family and friends, the anchors that have kept me afloat in often stormy and challenging seas.
The wisdom and the healing power of simplicity: The day I discovered the wisdom of William Morris
William Morris, photographed by Frederick Hollyer in 1884. Photograph: © National Portrait Gallery, London
Nota bene
I had heard about William Morris, but I knew next to nothing about who he was. I can vaguely remember years and years ago visiting an old house in Coventry. I commented on an old-looking, but amazingly beautiful wallpaper in the hall and the landing. Our guide told me it was by William Morris, the Arts & Crafts Movement, you know! That was it!
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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Photo credit: StuckinaBook
As I was reading about this fascinating book, I could not believe my eyes, how much and how deeply it was resonating with me, my life, my journey, pain, healing, finding joy, appreciating mother nature, finding solace in poetry and much more. This is why I am so happy for the opportunity of sharing this with you, the reader and visitor of this website. So come along and let us journey together, you, me and Esther Rutter.
But, first, I must note why and how Rutter's book and journey so much resonates with me. To this end I can do no better than sharing the following links with you. Please have a look and you will discover amply for yourselves:
- A moment that changed me: The day I discovered that indeed small is beautiful
- A moment that changed me: The day I saw the ruins of Coventry Cathedral
- Reimagining trust and trustworthiness at Davos Forum
- Economics as Enabler and Economists as Empowerers of the Good Life and the Good Society
- Economics and What it Means to Be Human