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On Solitude

eriktorenberg.substack.com

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Re: On Solitude

#41

Post by Apocryphon »

A lot of commentary here describing what he’s doing as meditation, but it really just seems like cutting out electronic social distractions for a while. A simple reduction of stimuli. While like meditation or Stoicism, that practice is also in the process of being packaged for commodification and cargo culting (“digital detox”, “dopamine fasts”), I genuinely think that the future will consist of such stimulus dieting to manage with a rapidly overstimulating, over-complicating world. In the same way that actual dieting has been a way to deal with a world awash in cheap carbs and calories.

Makes me wonder if there are further rules to add. I’ve always thought that abstaining from mobile devices is not enough- anything distracting and anxiety-inducing can be done bigger and better on a full-sized monitor.

Should other forms of media be avoided as well? Interactive games, passive videos? Music? Even books? Everyone’s threshold is different, but just wondering what people think is a reasonable delimiter.

Re: On Solitude

#42

Post by simonebrunozzi »

ssivark wrote: post #2

Just wanted to share Deresiewicz’s classic on the subject, for those who haven’t stumbled on it before: https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/

Amazing essay, thanks for making me discover it. This passage here is one of the many gems:

> Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it.

Re: On Solitude

#43

Post by rramadass »

One of the best documented "Solitary" lives was that of Richard Proenneke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke) who lived by himself for 30 years in Alaska's Twin Lakes Park.

His self-documentaries Alone in the Wilderness (Parts I & II) and The Frozen North are some of the best and most soothing videos i have ever seen. See also his book One Man's Wilderness.

You don't need Religion/Mysticism/Higher Calling to love Solitude and want to live in an Natural Environment.

Re: On Solitude

#44

Post by q-base »

rramadass wrote: post #43

One of the best documented "Solitary" lives was that of Richard Proenneke ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke ) who lived by himself for 30 years in Alaska's Twin Lakes Park. His self-documentaries Alone in the Wilderness (Parts I & II) and The Frozen North are some of the best and most soothing videos i have ever seen. See also his book One Man's Wilderness . You don't need Religion/Mysticism/Higher Ca…

I was not aware of the fact that he written a book. I will have to check that one out - because I agree those videos are so calm and soothing to watch.

Re: On Solitude

#45

Post by MeinBlutIstBlau »

imartin2k wrote: post #40
MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #21

This piece reads like some westerner that hasn't practiced meditation in any way before. Which imo, leads to the stupid trap that a lot of westerners like to believe in meditation and make an effort to do it as some sort of "healthy" lifestyle choice (a la Sam Harris; although I do admire his work). Just because you did a retreat for a few weeks by no means opened the stars in your eyes and changed the world. You're…

“ Which imo, leads to the stupid trap that a lot of westerners like to believe in meditation and make an effort to do it as some sort of "healthy" lifestyle choice (a la Sam Harris; although I do admire his work)” Sounds to me like a total misrepresentation of Sam Harris’ work and stance in this field. He’s definitely more in the “you are not special, we all die” camp. Have you tried his Waking Up app?

He's not, but he certainly has a perception of meditation can be helpful. The trap most westerners fall into is that meditation is some sort of fantastical way of helping your psyche when all the drugs you've taken failed. It's not and never has been. It's just a form of willing self restraint and discipline. The whole healing aspect never existed until marketing gurus realized they could make money off it. Like when Hinduism took off in the 70's. Stripping away the religious aspect of spirituality is almost even dumber because now it becomes a religion of the self. And if you have no confidence in yourself or are bouncing back from a major failure in life, the last thing you need is introspection in how you know it all or don't. I'm not advocating religion, but it would do you a lot more help to use that as a stepping stone versus on your own seeing as people have developed these ideas with worse problems than you. Whether it's about vishnu, god, or a prohpet of some kind is irrelevant seeing as their thoughts can help spur new thoughts in your own mind.

Re: On Solitude

#46

Post by Zababa »

pessimizer wrote: post #32
Zababa wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if one day as a society we'll be able to accept again that humans are flawed, and often the most popular are the most flawed. That's not to excuse what he's done or anything like that, but we can still find some interesting things or a bit of peace in his words. The "huge caveat" you talk about applies to pretty much everyone.

I don't think the world refuses to believe that humans can be flawed. That's the opposite of the problem with hero-worship. The problem with hero worship is that we disregard and apologize for our heroes' flaws when we wouldn't do that for the person sitting next to us.

> The problem with hero worship is that we disregard and apologize for our heroes' flaws when we wouldn't do that for the person sitting next to us.

Isn't that basically "refusing to believe that humans can be flawed"? We apply different standards to "heroes" and to regular human beings, while they are both regular human beings.

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