We may live our lives in parallel, but at the most fundamental level we experience aliveness alone, in the solitary chamber of the self, our experience a Möbius strip of consciousness folded unto itself, our becoming the most private, most significant work we have.
Rhonda and I were talking about this Saturday, that irrespective of the circle surrounding you, you live in your own head, hearing your own thoughts. Far from an existential burden though, Whitman, in his style, celebrated this.