There is a feeling that many people carry their entire lives without ever having a word for it. It is not sadness. Sadness has weight and texture; and direction. It is not numbness. Numbness implies a turning off, a cessation. What this sensation is sits between and beneath both of those, a hollow awareness: the quiet, relentless knowing that emotional depth and genuine connection exist somewhere, just beyond reach.

The OPATHIAN state is not numbness. People in this state are painfully aware of what they lack: emotional depth, joy, and connection. It is the feeling that others naturally experience these things while you watch from a distance you cannot close.