Acharya Prashant explains that loneliness is when you are not alright with yourself, whereas aloneness is when you are alright with yourself. When one is not okay with oneself, one will obviously seek an alternative to one's own company. This is the state of the lonely person, whose self is the ego. The ego lives in great contradiction and conflict, labeling itself as unworthy and incomplete. Consequently, the ego cannot just be with itself and feel fine; it must necessarily reach out to the world and want a companion, someone to relate to, sit with, or fill oneself up with. The ego wants to look at someone else because looking at itself reveals only nonsense. If one continues to look at oneself, one sees that one is false and doesn't exist, which is a dangerous and uncomfortable situation. Therefore, the ego looks elsewhere—to the phone, the market, marriage, or a social circle. This is loneliness. Loneliness is a state that comes only to the ego, the false 'I'. When you are lonely, you seek someone who is as lonely as you are, leading to mutual expectations that cannot be fulfilled. If you cannot give nice company to yourself, you cannot give it to another. The lonely person is a burden on others and is prepared to take on the burden of another lonely person. This leads to a series of failed expectations and relationships. However, every new disappointment is an opportunity to stop looking outwards and instead face the mirror and look at oneself honestly. This process is painful because one sees only trash. When one sees the trash for what it is, it falls away, and the need to hunt for company also disappears. This is the end of loneliness. When the rubbish has gone, one finds that one does not dislike oneself anymore. Aloneness is the state of being in which you don't hate yourself. You can actually admire yourself, honestly. Aloneness is not the absence of relationships but the presence of health in relationships. When you are alright with yourself, you can have healthy and beautiful relationships with others because you are no longer a social beggar seeking completion from them.