Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A life of solitude?
Emerson and Thoreau both wrote about the solitude, and it makes you wonder what would it be like if we were really able to live in solitude, is there even solitude out there anymore? A quote from Emerson that I liked was "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." This quote makes you think about how much we all are living in a way that is not our own. We live to please others by dressing the way everyone else dresses and doing the things that everyone else does. The solitude that Emerson writes about is a place that seems perfect and that seems so easy to do but I don't think there is solitude anymore. Solitude is gone. Emerson and Thoreau made me think about what I read in Feed. There was no solitude for the characters in the book, they had the world's opinion living right in there brain. They didn't control what they saw anymore, the corporations did. They were constantely being told what was cool, what everyone else was doing, and what they should wear. It was sad to think that this is happening to us today, not to the extreme that its built into our brain but it somewhat is if you think about it. The idea of solitude in the book made some of the characters cringe because they had no idea what a world without 'noise' would feel like. Solitude is a great concept but today I do no believe there is any way to get to complete solitude. I honestly do not believe I could live in complete solitude for a year, away from everyone and everything. It would be hard, I'm sure I would learn a lot about myself and have the ability to reflect on my life but it would be too much to handle. Giving up facebook for a year? I could do it. But living in the middle of no where with nothing and no one is a great idea but would be too hard for me.
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"we all are living in a way that is not our own."
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting idea to think about. Is who we are really the result of the "market" or "mass media"? Is there solitude or "individuality" out there anymore? Great questions!
I disagree that solitude is gone. Sitting in my room while reading is as close to solitude I have gotten. Sure, It's not far away in some remote location but my phone was off, my Facebook is deactivated, and my roommates were all asleep. Maybe for the vast majority of people they have no idea what solitude is like, but sitting alone in a cabin isn't the only way to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I love a couple of days to myself, in the quiet, but I do not think I would be capable of doing it for a year. As sad as it is, we have become so used to the "noise" that avoiding it seems unnatural to us.
ReplyDeleteI think the maximum length of solitude i could take is a week. Any longer then that I would get so bored, and annoyed with my own thoughts. Getting away from the noise would be nice, but I also kind of like the noise in my life, and would actually miss it a little if I wouldn't have it for too long.
ReplyDeleteIt's disturbing to think of a world without solitude. I think we can still achieve this today, but maybe not in the near future. When your sitting in complete silence today, it sort of feels eerie and you usually ask "why is it so quiet in here?" It seems out of the ordinary that there's no noise.
ReplyDeleteIt's scary to think that there is no such thing as solitude anymore. I have definitely been wondering what Thoreau and Emerson would think if they were in today's world even for a day. I think they would be completely overwhelmed by the amount of technology that is present all around us at every moment throughout the day.
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