Solitude

Without great solitude no serious work is possible.

~ Pablo Picasso

The best thinking has been done in solitude.

~ Thomas A. Edison

All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone."

- Blaise Pascal

Solitude was my only consolation - deep, dark, deathlike solitude.

~ Mary Shelley

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.

~ Ellen Burstyn

Solitude is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it.

~ Deepak Chopra

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

~ Aldous Huxley

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

~ Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden'

A man can be himself alone so long as he is alone … if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

~ Arthur Schopenhauer, 'The World as Will and Idea'

"Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.

~ Jodi Picoult ,'My Sister's Keeper'

"… practically all creative people, and certainly most geniuses, have preferred to be alone for long periods, especially when producing their best work."

- Raj Persaud, 'One Hundred Tears of Solitude'

Living in solitude, eating lightly, controlling the thought, word, and deed; ever absorbed in yoga of meditation, and taking refuge in detachment.

- Bhagavad Gita 

Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive... You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.

- Osho

(image source: www.lonerwolf.com)

One of the posts that I had written - Mylapore to Melbourne via Massachusetts ends like this:

“Why do you choose to be lonely? How long?”

“I am not lonely. Loneliness is not a choice. Solitude is. I am in bliss, from solitude.”

Human beings are products of social interaction and are generally supposed to be interactive. So why do they chose to be alone? There is a view that solitude is not out of choice, but out of chance and this gradually makes you accept solitude out of choice. Solitude can be forced due to personal or social pressures too, but I want to highlight in this post, the reasons behind people desiring and choosing solitude. The thin line dividing solitude and loneliness is that loneliness is not a choice; it is imposed whereas solitude is a choice.

A lot of quotes mentioned above try to reinforce the view that solitude is a facet of famous personalities, persons who are known to be reclusive. Many such persons have gone on record saying how solitude has inspired them to do things in life which they would have otherwise not been able to. While conversations could indeed be enriching in many ways, it is said that solitude is the 'school of genius'.

What are the reasons for 'choosing' solitude? Does solitude have its benefits?

Solitude is soul space and 'awareness' or 'witness' plane. One of the reasons for a person's choice of solitude, the most basic, is that you can be yourself in your space. There is no one guiding you, trying to infringe upon your space. You can reach out to people if you want to and when you want to. The other time is when you can be yourself, just yourself, doing your own thing.

I have seen people who are very self made at ease being alone than in a group. They like to do things themselves and rarely seek help. The 'dependence' factor is very less.

Another reason is that many of such persons preferring solitude have strong views on life and perhaps do not find many people who are intellectually stimulating as them. They like to be alone with the good and bad in them.

However, for a minority, solitude is a choice. Though, metaphorically, one may say that in such a connected world as today, we are seldom in solitude or peace with all that chatter and noise all over. There's no 'me' time and we are perennially on a information and gossip plane. Privacy has become a component of treasure.

Some of people preferring solitude also feel that they are intellectually superior to others; smarter than the rest. 'Smart' is a misnomer, a word that even screams 'self aggrandisement!' on the face. A superiority complex? It is perhaps possible that the topics of interest for an 'intelligent' person would find fewer takers than say, a 'normal/average' person. I feel that when people who consider themselves 'smart' are at home with people possessing similar level of intelligence quotient and such discussions can at times get abstract for the rest. They feel that the number of such people are very less and that they do not feel like conversing with the rest as it does not add value to their life. This is, as always, perceptive. Conversely, the topics of interest for a normal person may not find a taker in an 'intelligent' person. But I believe such 'exclusivity' is also self-imposed in many cases. Everyone is wired differently.

However, the most important issue is that solitude, when it is by choice, indeed gives a creative and more fulfilling space....a fillip to fulfillment, if I can put it that way.

In a negative way, solitude can drive people to depression and even suicide; the reasons are not far to seek. Many a time, one can find persons choosing solitude to be completely at sea in a group of people. They feel out of place and sometimes even get depression pangs.

Philosophically speaking, solitude also brings us face to face with the reality that no matter what - each one of us is walking alone in the path of life and the security cover offered by friends and family is superficial.

So, do you enjoy being alone?