There is another escape pattern, or game, which is very much like the ivory tower of intellectualism…it is the isolation game. Loners shut themself off from others, live alone, and tried to convince themselves that they like it this way. By entering this kind of solitary confinement, they succeed in evading all the most difficult challenges of human life and society. Loners assume the attitude of smugness; they smirk at organizations, laugh at the poor “joiners”, whom they look upon with a pretended attitude of superiority and condescension. They keep telling themselves that they are above that sort of nonsense.

Neurotics are torn between their inner need to push toward and pull away from people. Loners are neurotics who opt in favor of the pulling away for people. They retreat, and since they cannot relate easily to others, they play their game to avoid failures in human relationships. The ultimate effects are conditioned by what is inside of loners, the reasons for their withdrawal tendencies. If it is hostility that is predominant, it could eventually erupt into violence. If it is anxiety, it could result in compulsive-obsessive neurotic habits (for example, repeatedly washing hands). If it is paranoia, it will deepen the Gulf between themselves and the rest of the human race. The escapist pattern always ends in some kind of lonely tragedy. –Father John Powell ‘Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am?”