Amir Ali

This article attempts to look at the quest for diversity by posing a question about how effective the concept has been in securing meaningful diversity in the public sphere of liberal polities. It distinguishes between diversity and difference to suggest that difference poses a greater challenge to liberal polities as compared to diversity. It then goes onto look at diversity in relation to democracy, especially in the context of a worsening climate of democracy across the world. The article suggests that the prospects for diversity are unlikely to be bright either in the contemporary conjuncture or the immediate future. The article ends by suggesting that diversity is caught between the forces of globalization and the insular nationalism that has welled up from the hinterlands of nation-states.

Irvin Yalom believes that loneliness is an existential boundary and pain which is inseparable from a human being. He comes into this world alone, leaves it alone and he alone is responsible for creating his own character; not only does he have no helper in this world, but there is no refuge for him either and he has been thrown into this world involuntarily. Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi also discusses the pain of loneliness, but it is not Yalomi’s type of bitter loneliness; rather, it is in the form of loneliness from one’s origin; his anguish is not from not having a refuge, rather it is the separation from God and estrangement in the world that has brought him anguish and pain. In Yalom’s view, the pain of loneliness has no solution; it is an existential issue that man must accept and he can only soothe it. But Molavi considers being with God as elimination of the pain of separation and loneliness. By presenting this research, the writes hopes to decrease the weight of loneliness through a meaningful approach. For this purpose, the article will first point out the aspects of the pain of loneliness and ultimately, will present solutions for release from this pain.