being-alone and being-with:
"These fundamental elements are revealed in the paradoxical characteristic of existence of always finding ourselves inescapably alone and at the same time inescapably together in a world with others" (p. 58).
Being-alone and being-with simply describe the way we, as human beings, are; the way in which we respond to our individual and social natures will vary, but two basic options are open, inauthenticity and authenticity:
"In inauthentic being-alone we flee from facing the totality of our existence [and from the facts of impermanence and death] through absorption in the particular entities of the world;
in inauthentic being-with we ignore our essential relatedness to others through indulging in self-concern" (p. 91).
"In both these cases," Batchelor says,
"the turning point
from inauthenticity to authenticity is comprised of an experiential
recognition and acceptance of the fundamental character of
our being which we have been evading and distorting"