Seeking Solitude

Individual's perception of solitude stems from personal views on his/her importance, role, and position in society. Furthermore, it specifically relates to understanding spirituality and the value of spending time alone. Thus, there is a close relation between spirituality and religion. The latter is however underscored in terms of solitary pursuit of the self. There are numerous assumptions and theories regarding the state of being along that vary depending on spiritual angles. Overall, solitude can be perceived as a positive psychological state that corresponds with the individual's need to delve deeper into internal intimacy, yet it can have negative outcomes if an individual is forced to be alone.

In the studies on the discussed matter, Barbour (2014) argues that solitude at its best when it realizes its fullest ethical and spiritual value is not oriented toward escaping the world, but toward a different kind of participation in it, as made possible by disengagement from ordinary social interactions. This implies that, in opposition to loneliness, solitude can be regarded as a positive state, the one, which one should seek to achieve rather than ignore. To enlarge on the issue, personality traits and environmental context affect the extent to which an individual perceives the value of solitude, as well as the amount of time a person can spend while being alone. Furthermore, Barbour (2014) justifies that solitude is a return to the self, but it may also be a return to what is most important in one’s life, and encounter with sources of meaning and truth. In other words, a solitary person can have a deeper understanding of its uniqueness, desires, and goals in life rather than just considering the necessity of being in relationship with others. It can also provide a ground for self-confidence and cultivation of professional and personal growth, which is deprived of subjective evaluations of significant others.

Understanding of wisdom of being alone embraces an awareness of both spiritual essence and solitary experiences, as well as the threats, when solitary pursuits are extracted from social activities, relationships, and contexts, which can assign solitude with value and meaning. Solitude can help individuals focus on the feeling of belonging. Lonely individuals can be good at examining consciousness, exploring ancient texts, and defining God’s will, creating works of literature and art, as well as appreciating the surrounding world. Some people attain their perception of solitude from the perspective of divine will and join religious communities that support loneliness and ultimate values of the religious tradition. Hence, a spiritual individual can be in search of transcendent meaning that not always affiliates with community, which makes those understand the feeling of being along as the affirmation of the individual’s detachment from religious institutions.

As already mentioned above, solitude can be perceived from different perspectives. For instance, Long and Averill (2003) speak about the kinds of benefits that solitude provides, and the environmental setting, personal traits, and developmental capabilities that help them mediate those benefits (p. 24). It is evident that the scholars assign some positive dimensions to solitude, but the effect of the state depends on the individual’s personal background and previous perceptions of being either alone or in relationships. On the contrary, some people believe that solitude is a torture and a punishment for being unable to find a couple or company. What is more, some individuals strive to reach solitude because of the failure to build trustful relationship with other people. As a result, they often avoid the experience in the future, assuming that solitude is much safer and more effective for self-determination and spiritual growth.

It is worth mentioning that spiritual solitude should not be confused with isolation from the social environment, because a human is a social being, which still requires communication and interaction. If solitude and loneliness imply total isolation from the community, the person could even encounter the symptoms of physical and mental disorder. As an example, Byrd (1938) set out an expedition to the Antarctic in 1934 to spend six month in isolation from the civilization and collect data about weather conditions. However, the scholar encountered serious challenges and psychological stress in the pursuit of scientific findings. There were several stages described in the book of how the expeditor adjusted to various feelings raised by solitude solitude, such as intimacy, fear, struggle, and even despair. In his book, the author admits, I was conscious of certain aimlessness. This feeling centered on small but increasingly lamentable omissions (Byrd, 1938, p. 6). Apparently, the lack of motivation, despair, and apathy were the result of the fear that Byrd would never have an opportunity to share the knowledge, emotions, and feeling he had experienced and wanted to pass to others. Hence, in contrast to the positive perception of solitude by Barbour as well as Long and Averill, Byrd’s experience was a sort of empirical evidence that the very idea of solitude, separation and full isolation from the community and social activities, can be threatening for an individual in terms of health outcomes and mental disorders.

In the majority of cases, solitary existence is a kind of encounter with the self. Some might fail to overcome loneliness due to the fear of confronting personal problems and concerns as well as inability to cope with those without assistance. Some people, however, manage to lead an isolated life and succeed in meditating and concentrating on the self. For instance, Grumbach (1994), after delving into the solitary existence, concludes that only in solitude, away from the persons with whom we ordinarily spend our time we enter deeper intimacy with each other. It is a fallacy to think that we grow closer to each other when we talk, play, or work together. In this respect, a deeper engagement into the greater consciousness of the self as well as the possibility of cognizing personal traits and values can become even more important that establishing relationships with the family. In other words, solitude can benefit a person in terms of the opportunity for cultivating the human need for lonely place. Furthermore, the author insists that, just like a person needs regular interaction and feeling of belonging, he/she needs some time being alone for re-evaluating and re-assessing internal values, experiences, and feelings. Failure to find a possibility to be alone can even have a negative influence on the formation of individuality and identity, because each person should have a personal space for self-development and internal evaluation. Grumbach (1994), therefore, is more concerned with discovering some undercurrent ways of addressing the existing contradictions and achieving harmony with the self.

The issues presented above prove that an individual should understand a tender line between negative and positive consequences of solitude in order to live and interact harmoniously in the community. First, one should define the difference between solitude and loneliness. Loneliness is more associated with sad, adverse feelings, which are opposed to the absence of friends and support. It often implies isolation against someone's will or inability to co-exist in society. Hence, loneliness is closely associated with depression, incompleteness, and the feeling of pain and insufficiency. Byrd (1938), whose solitary existence led to mental and physical disorders, described such experience in his studies.

At the same time, apart from the not always pleasant feelings, being alone is not necessarily a negative phenomenon, since a person can enjoy leading a solitary life along with an opportunity to gain deeper understanding of the power of intimacy and the sense of internal advancement and self-development. Connection with the self is a priority for each person aiming to achieve self-confidence and improve self-esteem. Aloneness means a conscious decision of an individual to lead an isolated life as well as release himself/herself from routine existence. In this respect, individuals could be overwhelmed with daily routine and business activities, which often make it difficult to find a spare time for oneself. As a result, people seek solitude to re-assess the situation and diminish the influence of the pressure of the environment and community.

As soon as a person understands the value and sees the benefits of solitude, he or she will be able to cognize the advantages of leaving some time for being alone. In fact, solitude is an excellent opportunity for cultivating creativity, conducting self-search, and achieving development by working, travelling, or engaging in hobbies. At this point, solitude can seem to be a kind of leisure activity. It can also provide people with the power to control and adjust their lives, restore personal strength and energy, as well as heal some emotional wounds. In order to understand the major purpose of loneliness, one must realize that it should be viewed as a complex process that requires internal evaluation and exploration. Evidently, a person should develop specific experience and skills, which will allow them to enjoy the moments of solitude and turn this time into a beneficial process.

Modern culture emphasizes the need for active social interaction, mainly due to the spread of social media. As a result, people chose to engage into social activities with the aim of understanding themselves and improving their psychological and brain activity. However, an important aspect of solitude is that the time spent alone allows people to set priorities in terms of their own needs in life rather than the needs of other people surrounding them. The experience of solitude can be beneficial for a person when it is used as a means of distracting from overloaded interaction and communication. It is also an effective way of revealing genuine feelings and emotions. Self-awareness increases people's ability to delve deeper into emotions and thoughts, which can enhance their intuition and aptness for making fruitful decisions.

In conclusion, the overview of the research studies and explorations of solitude shed light on both its positive and negative sides. On the one hand, solitude can help an individual to understand personal needs and concerns, as well as delve deep into the management of these specific needs and concerns. In this respect, it is highly essential to understand that the lack of solitude can also be detrimental for health of those, who are always involved in interaction and daily routine. At the same time, solitude should not be confused with loneliness, which can bear the negative meaning, because it is a sort of intentional isolation of an individual from the society that is conducted against the individual’s will. Such type of solitary existence can contribute to the aggravation of psychological state and the impairment of mental health. Hence, the task of each person is to distinguish between solitude as a means of depriving of social pressure and loneliness as a mental state leading to depression and mood disorders. Everyone should also recognize solitude as a powerful tool to self-cognition and cultural and professional development, which results in harmonious existence.
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