The power of lonely

Is it a stretch to see a political aspect to the academic focus on solitude as a pathology? At a fundamental level, liberals (whose ideals have paradoxically been claimed by conservatives in modern America) glorified the individual and defined the highest ideal to be freedom, a state in which reciprocal obligations are minimized. Leftists have defined themselves in opposition to liberal/conservative ideals by celebrating collectivism, promoting mutual obligation as a good <i>in itself</i>, and denigrating individuality as an unhealthy delusion and a denial of humanness, which is inherently social and collective.<p>The split can be seen very easily in how (to revert to the modern American terms) liberals and conservatives talk about difference. Conservatives celebrate individual difference; liberals celebrate group difference. It is very interesting that to be different <i>as an individual</i> is a conservative ideal, treated suspiciously by liberals, but to be different <i>as part of a group</i> is a liberal ideal, treated with suspicion by conservatives.<p>(Note that I'm talking about the two groups' rhetoric here; I'm not talking about who is actually more hospitable to difference in practice.)<p>Is it any wonder then, that psychologists in academia would see aloneness as a pathological state, a departure from the psychologically normal and healthy state of functioning as a group member?

Sometimes explaining the path you're on is more work than its worth and a distraction from continuing on it. People can't really accept what you believe about it without some proof that its valid, which you can't supply because you're discovering it.<p>You're probably not going to gain any confidence from such an interaction. You may even come off like a wing nut. So keeping things to yourself until you have something solid and a way to explain it can be best.

Yet being around people you can relate with is priceless. We hackers need new thoughts and cross fertilization of ideas. The web helps but personally, my most interesting moments of this year so far where in a Linux meeting in Quebec and a San Diego HN social event last week, before returning home to my tropical island. Don't underestimate the power of socialization until you start to really live outside north america/europe/australia-nz/japan.

I never got preparing for exams in groups. It's fine to exchange material but actually <i>learning</i> in groups doesn't seem so work for me at all because it is so distracting.

"The leaders of the world’s great religions -- Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses -- all had crucial revelations during periods of solitude."<p>Regarding Jesus, the two times of solitude that immediately come to my mind, based on the Gospel accounts, are his time spent in the desert and in the garden of Gethsemane.<p>In neither case did he have what I would call a "crucial revelation." (And I'm sure some theologians would argue that it's not technically possible for Jesus to have had a revelation.)<p>I wonder what the author had in mind.

Usually the ones that criticize solitude are those that can't handle their own, and get lonely, and thus can't realize its great benefits. Solitude can offer the power to better relationships because it anchors a person.