I have heard of this before, but I have no answers for you, since I haven't attained it myself. It's something I'm working on.
You've made two mistakes:
1) "It felt like I was the only one in this entire universe."
You divorce the universe from yourself. This is incorrect.
2) "if I simply faced an existential truth; that I am alone; and that I was afraid of truly facing it."
Take a look at some of the Hindu creation stories. The one I am aware of goes like this:
Quote:
In the beginning there was a single soul. This soul looked around, and saw nothing but itself. It exclaimed: 'Here I am! , From that moment the concept '1' came into existence. Realizing it was alone, this entity became afraid. Then it thought: 'Why should I be afraid, when there is no one but me?' So its fear subsided.
Yet, since pleasure can only be enjoyed in company, this soul lacked all pleasure. Thus it wanted a companion. It was as large as a man and a woman embracing. So it split into two, becoming a husband and a wife. That is why it is said that a husband and wife are two halves of a single being.
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I got that
here, but I read it in Joseph Campbell's Oriental Mythology first.
Are you alone? Why are you only you? Why are you not many? People are not the Other; they are also you.
Pronouns... annoyingly slippery when describing the concept of identity.