OSHO

Aloneness
Meditation is a way to come to terms with one's loneliness, to have an encounter with one's own loneliness rather than escaping from it, diving deep into it and seeing what exactly it is. And then you are in for a surprise. If you go into your loneliness you will be surprised: at the very center of it, it is not lonely at all -- there resides aloneness which is a totally different phenomenon. The circumference consists of loneliness and the center consists of aloneness. The circumference consists of solitariness and the center of solitude. And once you have known your beautiful aloneness, you will be a totally different person -- you will never feel lonely. Even in the mountains or in the deserts where you will be absolutely alone, you will not feel lonely -- because in your aloneness you will know God is with you, in your aloneness you are so deeply rooted in God that who cares whether there is somebody else outside or not? You are so full inside, so rich inside.... Right now, even in the crowd you are lonely. And I am saying: if you know your aloneness, even in your loneliness you will not be lonely.
- The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty, Chapter #6

A man who knows how to be alone knows how to be meditative. Aloneness means meditation -- just relishing your own being, celebrating your own being.
- The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3, Chapter #6

The word alone means all one. That's how it is constructed -- all one. On the surface you are separate from all. In fact on the surface you are lonely because you are separate from the all. In the depth, when you have disappeared, there is no distinction between you and all. All is one, you are no longer, aloneness is.
- The Diamond Sutra, Chapter #10