This man has a wife, lives in New York and talks about solitude like he knows more about it than the word's spelling. Lol.
Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
21–30 of 56 posts
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#22> I think that being surrounded by your fellow man in a hive day after day, without hope of solitude, produces contempt and alienation, a feeling that the humans are interchangeable, that the surfeit of their numbers reduces their individual worth and meaning. In such a state of crowding, [...] a man of compassion is sickened because he is overwhelmed This is highly individual. I actually think that generally, the op…
Staying alone for a very long time is probably unhealthy as well indeed. But go for a two week long stay high up in the wild mountains and breathe the fresh air there alone by yourself or with just one or two of your closest friends or members of family, and I am convinced that you would feel that all war and all other man made problems of the world could be solved if everyone got to experience just a few days of thi…
This might work as long as I do not take anyone from my family along... In fact, everything would be better then staying two weeks with memebers of my family at a remote place. The more I think of it, the more I understand why this article is abou solitude.
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#23This man has a wife, lives in New York and talks about solitude like he knows more about it than the word's spelling. Lol.
solitude, loneliness, and isolation are very different things. Isolation is physical separation, Solitude is conscious and voluntary self-reflection, and loneliness is the feeling of isolation. The last two can happen even if you have plenty of people around.
Loneliness despite company, especially in urban environments, has been one of the most popular topics in art & culture for like a hundred years for a reason.
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
While it technically is interaction, I'd argue it's very different than what's going on in cities. As always, YMMV, but oftentimes, interaction is forced on you in cities and you can't get away from it. You talk about being alone in your apartment. Many people don't have that luxury. Even though they "live alone", "interaction" is forced on them thanks to paper-thin walls and their neighbors going about their busines…
what's frustrating is it doesn't have to be that way. We have the know-how to install proper noise pollution prevention, yet we don't do that (in the US) because it would cost more money.
But I do like to open a window from time to time.
So .. we can certainly reduce noise in the cities (yay for electric cars), but not eliminate it completely.
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#25What the author describes as being around people actually sounds like social isolation: yes, NYC is full of people but the way the author describes it, they're all strangers. This isn't alienating, this is alienated.
Humans have evolved to live in small to moderately sized groups with close relationships and shared activities across the group like communal child rearing, food procurement, games and rituals. This also hinges on being able to make an impact on your surroundings and maintaining use-based ownership.
Contrast this with living in a megacity: outside your (rented) apartment the closest thing you get to ownership is public property which effectively is owned by noone while all private property is owned by someone else who is most likely a faceless corporation or a complete stranger to you. You are constantly surrounded by people but you don't know any of them and most people you will likely encounter too infrequently to form any lasting relationships with. They're all strangers or outsiders with goals at best irrelevant and at worst contrary to your own but they're also similarly isolated from each other so they don't even form a "foreign tribe" you can try to assimilate into - apart from a vague notion of "acting like you belong" by following the shallow social norms.
What the author describes as solitude on the other hand is the individualistic rebellion against this: carving out "your own" space in one that is unclaimed (or at least not inhabited and actively guarded against your temporary use of it). The interaction he describes is a lot more intimate - not because he was nude but because he was interacting with discrete people, not faceless members of a crowd.
Of course as others have pointed out this isn't lasting and "actual solitude" is a very different beast and can be equally harmful and alienating. So the answer is a collectivist rebellion: finding a "tribe", looking for peer groups to form closer bonds with over shared interests or experiences. Often this is what motivates people to move into suburbia where they of course often still experience the same isolation as everyone retreats into their family home due to the lack of horizontally organized communal spaces.
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#26> On the third day, I shed my clothes. For what seemed a very long time, I was naked in the depths of the earth a hundred miles from the nearest town. The nakedness, the plenitude of light, the soft warmth of the air, and the sense of illimitable freedom was erotic, and often I had stupendous erections, helped along by the memories of women I had known.
He writes very well and the article made me realize: I don't go to the forest to be alone, I go to the forest so I can better enjoy humanity afterwards.
If Christopher Ketcham is reading this: please fix your RSS feed.
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#27This man has a wife, lives in New York and talks about solitude like he knows more about it than the word's spelling. Lol.
Funny. He's also a freelance writer. As such he can write about solitude - if he gets an article or two or even a book out his chit chat, perhaps become the guru of 'solitude' on talk shows..
I mean what's the difference between the real thing and a simulation of the real? Probs the simulation is better, especially if it pays the bills! Right?
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#28Some of the biggest misanthropes, bigots etc. I interacted with online live in remote villages or even precisely like described, in a house in middle of nature. They never even lived in a big city but they think it's bad, streets are full of shit, every other person you see is a criminal or swindler (and don't even mention immigrants) and so on. The mistake of the author is thinking wilderness is required for solitud…
> thinking wilderness is required for solitude and being in a big city is not. Can't you be equally or more alone in a city?
If you took the walls away, you'd find you're probably standing very close to some other people! You're not alone, any more than someone in a cube farm works in a very large private office.
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#29"Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind; such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desire cannot get solitude wherever he may be; a detached man is always in solitude." ― Ramana Maharshi
"Everything in you that you don't need, you can let go of. You don't need loneliness, for you couldn't possibly be alone. You don't need greed, because you already have it all. You don't need doubt, because you already know."
— Ram Dass
Re: Solitude as the antidote to misanthropy
#30(2022)