HENRY CLOSE’S (see biographical note preceding A New Perspective) sermon On Loneliness grew out of discussions with people in alcoholic rehabilitation programs. In it he deals with the subject of loneliness, an emotion the well-known American psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan used to say was the only motivating force in people stronger than anxiety that could move them toward facing the possibility of pain and growth.

People have used many different symbols or figures of speech to express their sometimes very deep feelings of loneliness. One man refers to his loneliness as a wall that he realizes he has built around himself, a wall to keep other people from getting too close to him. Part of this wall is carefully constructed as though of concrete reinforced with steel. This represents the …