“Loneliness occurs primarily because there is nothing beyond your thought and emotional process,” observed Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev during a conversation with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on September 28, 2024, at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Room, Harvard Medical School in Boston.
The discussion, titled “Loneliness: In is the Only Way Out,” was moderated by Director of the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet, Dr. Bala Subramaniam.
Opening the discussion, Dr. Murthy noted “I struggled at times, as a shy and introverted kid, with my own sense of loneliness and isolation,” adding “And when I became a doctor, I started to see that many of the patients I was caring for would come in with an infection, with another diagnosis, but in the background, they would be struggling with this sense of loneliness and isolation.”
As the current Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy shared insights that he observed that both young and old, in urban and rural areas, were grappling with loneliness and isolation across the country. This led him to explore the health impacts of loneliness and its underlying science.
Dr. Murthy highlighted that young people are the most affected, with over 50 percent reporting experiences of loneliness. He also noted the profound consequences of disconnection, not only increasing the risk of depression and anxiety but also contributing to serious physical health issues. As such, he cited alarming statistics: a 29 percent increase in the risk of heart disease, a 31 percent rise in stroke risk, a 50 percent higher chance of developing dementia in older adults, and an elevated risk of premature death.
Sadhguru emphasized that loneliness is not a social phenomenon but a psychological one. Anyone can feel lonely even in a crowd or among people who loves them. Loneliness is something people can create for themselves no matter the situation. He pointed out that society has lost the value of solitude, which should be a time of profound personal growth.
“When I say loneliness, I see it as an incubation period for mental illness. You are incubating trouble. It will come. How soon? How later? What is the volume of trouble you will get may vary from person to person, because this depends on genetics,” added Sadhguru. “This depends on social support, you have your own intelligence… But is it coming? It is coming for everybody.”
He highlighted that in yogic cultures, there is a strong emphasis on balancing how much time one spends absorbing or perceiving things and how much time one spends expressing themselves. The ideal ratio should be 1:3, meaning if they spend two-thirds of their time learning and one-third expressing, their expressions will be meaningful and valuable. Today, however, with early access to platforms like Facebook, even a six-year-old feels the need to express. Sadhguru humorously suggested, “I hope you ban it.”
He also warned about the rapid progression of technology, particularly in the realm of expression, predicting that it will evolve in unimaginable ways in the next four to five years. With AI advancing, if there is no mechanism to address its impact, it’s possible that in 10 to 15 years, every family may have at least one person who is “mentally broken.”
