There is a quiet consequence of fully inhabiting an immanent, relational ontology.
It is solitude.
Not social solitude — though that can sometimes follow — but ontological solitude: the recognition that the ground one stands on is not the ground most others seek.
And, unexpectedly, this can feel like ease.
The Loss of Shared Anchors
If one no longer relies on:
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Transcendent guarantees,
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Systemic ultimate grounds,
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External validators of moral truth,
then something subtle shifts.
The need for shared anchoring loosens.
This loosening can feel at first like loss. But it can also feel like relief.
Solitude Without Alienation
Solitude becomes alienating when we believe shared foundations are necessary for meaning.
But if meaning is immanent — enacted relationally rather than guaranteed structurally — then shared foundations are not prerequisites for engagement.
One can participate fully in dialogue while recognising:
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Others seek anchors one does not need.
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Others defend guarantees one does not require.
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Others experience destabilisation where one experiences openness.
This recognition does not require withdrawal. It simply removes urgency.
Solitude becomes spacious rather than estranging.
Freedom from Conversion
One of the most practical payoffs of this stance is freedom from the compulsion to convert.
If one’s position does not depend on universalisation, then persuasion loses its existential weight.
There is no need to win in order to remain coherent.
This shifts the tone of intellectual life profoundly.
Stability Without Ground
Paradoxically, relinquishing metaphysical ground produces a different kind of stability.
When stability depends on an anchor, its defence becomes urgent. Threats must be neutralised. Challenges must be rebutted.
But when stability arises from relational coherence — from internal consistency and careful construction — it becomes less fragile.
This is not groundlessness. It is distributed grounding — enacted in practice rather than secured in advance.
Patience as Strength
Ease with solitude manifests as patience.
Patience with:
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Repetition.
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Misunderstanding.
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Moral urgency grounded elsewhere.
When others defend transcendence or systemic guarantees, one need not destabilise them in return.
One can recognise the function their anchors serve.
One can remain steady.
Patience here is not passivity. It is composure.
The Quiet Payoff
What, then, is the philosophical payoff?
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Intellectual independence without arrogance.
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Moral seriousness without absolutism.
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Engagement without existential strain.
What is the practical payoff?
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Reduced defensiveness.
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Greater clarity in critique.
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A capacity to remain present without seeking confirmation.
Ease with solitude is not loneliness. It is the ability to inhabit one’s commitments without requiring them to be universally shared.
A Subtle Transformation
The deepest transformation may be this:
When one no longer seeks shared anchors, one can encounter others more gently.
But because destabilisation is no longer experienced as threat.
Solitude becomes a condition for generosity.
Conclusion
To be at ease with solitude is not to stand apart from the world. It is to stand within it without demanding ontological reassurance.
It is to accept that others may need anchors — and that one does not.
It is to continue speaking, critiquing, juxtaposing, and constructing — without urgency, without coercion, without fear.
And from that composure, something unexpected emerges:
Not isolation.
Freedom.
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