Loneliness is the soul's most prevalent societal and individual pathos (suffering) and is reflected in countless symptoms associated with the dominant ideas of our age. Bulimic consumerism, with its binging hunger, is a pathology of loneliness. So too, psychology's obsessive quest for personal growth and relatedness. So, too, the spread of gangs and the burgeoning of single-issue support groups (survivors of this or that, addicts of all stripes, yuppie salons, etc.), both phenomena fueled by loneliness. So, too, our cultural fascination with and vicarious dependence on "personalities" like movie stars or athletes.
— Benjamin Sells, The Soul of the Law