Acharya Prashant explains that loneliness is not the absence of a person or object, but rather the presence of a belief that one's inner condition can be healed by something external. He distinguishes this from aloneness, which is the freedom from such expectations. He argues that people often invest deeply in relationships to avoid facing their internal void, eventually lying to themselves and others to justify these investments. He notes that various social and commercial industries exploit this feeling of loneliness to maintain consumption and social structures.
