Some thoughts on the effects of solitude and living more humbly

[skydog]

I have been doing this almost for the past year either travelling or by myself and often before as well.

 

If one is surrounded by a group of people who constantly dictate to them what they should think and who they should be and who they cant be because it may offend them, this will severely impact their evolution.

 

If one learns to be much more at ease and at peace with long periods of maybe not full solitude but much greater solitude, then one will not rely on seeking social approval so much because one is happy in their own company (at least to a much greater degree) there is no need to hang out with certain people because one wants to be told they are good or to accept mistreatment or bad company.

 

Also I have been struggling with this but getting better, I see it as a "spiritual practice" in a way like fasting because if you are accustomed to living life with all kinds of luxuries and see that it is only possible to feel satisfied with the luxury of this and that, then one will crave more of this and aggressively fear having "less" sure no one wants to be poor, but fear of being poor often creates it too, when one can deal with what one has more effectively then this is almost like being more controlled with sex drive/food. One is stronger and thus able to be more virtous and themselves.

 

Yeh there are downsides too I guess.

[Flolfolil]

i don't dig harsh asceticism. if the being alone happens it happens but i see self imposing it as being more damaging at least short term. As long as it stays at "i want to do this" rather than "i must" i see it as positive. i like how i am, but i don't fit in with cultural do's and do not's. i want to blend in and be more integrated with society. i also want to wear comfortable homemade rave pants and not cut my hair or shave. i feel like if i am totally comfortable with myself my small core group of friends is all i need

[Jetsun]

I have been in long periods of solitude over the last few years and I don't think it is very good for you.

[C T]

Solitude works better when it is first cultivated in the mind.

 

Then the body follows.

 

Otherwise different resistances will keep surfacing and re-surfacing. Then, all the hours/days/months/years spent in supposed quietude will be in vain -- the turmoil ensures this.

 

Solitude can be viewed also as an inner mental sanctum which anyone with practice can create for themselves to retreat to at anytime, to find renewal, replenishment, or simply rest.

 

Forcing anything will only create undesirable causes for undesirable results.

[JustBHappy]

Most people are not ready for real solitude and instead of growing and prospering from it, end up worse off than before. I've seen plenty of people crack in silent long term retreats. Most are not ready to see their own mind.

If one is prepared, solitude is extremely powerful. Even just going a mere week without speaking and unplugging from the constant noise and garbage can be very helpful in ones practice. In long term retreat the mind and body slowly unwind and start to relax. The awareness expands and gets more and more subtle. Solitude is a valuable tool.

It's no mistake that the greatest meditation masters have all lived in quiet solitude.

[zanshin]

I think if I could be out in a beautiful natural setting and have a few things to putter around and maybe create art with, some extended simple time in solitude would be living a dream.

[GrandmasterP]

http://www.communityofsolitude.com/

Website for hermits.

 

Who knew?

[skydog]

hmm further thoughts which may sound extreme but whatever.

 

The now, inner peace, reality is always here.

 

In poverty, failures, lack of sex, being tortured, imprisonment, lack of food, solitude is no reason to feel discontent really. A lot of people think wealth means having more. But people who often have more, want more and more and are constantly grasping so are not really content. Whereas someone can be content in prison (Michael Lomaxs teacher Wang Juemin or Sri Aurobindo got enlightened in prison) Many people are happy in solitude/celibacy/fasting. Tibetan Monks are known to have been tortured but dwell in states of bliss due to certain spiritual techniques. Failure is a concept. Anyways yeh this is all conceptual, and I know people will disagree but it is a very empowering way of being...No fear, also no fear of death or the external world or others deaths. In many ways all is neccessary is to abide in the present/now.

 

And no this doesnt neccessarily mean that one will live a crap life thinking like this, first of all it will mean contentment whatever conditions, secondly it will mean no fear, high vibration, possible law of attraction but not really desired anyways.

[GrandmasterP]

Not sure about that 'empowering' buddy.

Good luck to anyone who enjoys tough plus alone.

I just find meself asking...

.. Why?

[三江源]

Not sure about that 'empowering' buddy.

Good luck to anyone who enjoys tough plus alone.

I just find meself asking...

.. Why?

and what do you answer? Or do you just stay stuck at lack of comprehension?

[i am]

I saw a documentary about Buddhist monks living in a certain mountain range in China. One of the guys said something along the lines of "if you are prepared, and have your practice, the mountains can be a great place to cultivate. If you don't have your practice down, it can be hell". Solitude only works if you've hit a certain point.

 

How old are you? You don't have to answer, I only ask because even though I've always spent a lot of time by myself and taken long cross country trips by myself and gone overseas by myself, the older I get, the more I don't mind being alone. Unless you're married, the kind of close friendships where you're hanging out daily, just to hang out, usually go away. You only get together with people if there's some sort of "event", or thing going on. You don't just stop by after work and plop down on the couch and say "hey, what's going on? Want to do something?".

 

At least that's been my experience. I think maybe once you start getting really old, you start maybe having those relationships again, though...

 

Anyways, you are absolutely heavily influenced by the people you spend the most time with. I find that the more I do my own thing, the less I'm like all the rest of my friends when I do spend time with them. When I spend a lot of time with them, I start picking up some of the ways they say things, etc. But once you've found more who you are and what you want and what you are, you can keep that, even when you spend a lot of time with other people.

[skydog]

Im 22 I dont know but its like in two days or even in 2 hours all my thinking has shifted...contentment is wealth.

 

When I say being content with all those things I dont neccessarily mean going and seeking prison/living in the mountains etc, but live life in wu wei and being content, which actually just means seeing reality as it is and being in the now, zen mind which seems to be easy. One can go and have nice things.

 

But nice and bad things will come, think its pretty idealistic and lacking in clarity to believe life will always be roses..people will die, people will get sick, fail, etc etc. Enlightenment is called enlightenment for a reason, it clearly isnt the same thing as manifestation and make everything perfect

[GrandmasterP]

and what do you answer? Or do you just stay stuck at lack of comprehension?

.....

Yep.

Stuck a lack of comprehension.

No change there then.

;-)

[GrandmasterP]

Im 22 I dont know but its like in two days or even in 2 hours all my thinking has shifted...contentment is wealth.

 

When I say being content with all those things I dont neccessarily mean going and seeking prison/living in the mountains etc, but live life in wu wei and being content, which actually just means seeing reality as it is and being in the now, zen mind which seems to be easy. One can go and have nice things.

 

But nice and bad things will come, think its pretty idealistic and lacking in clarity to believe life will always be roses..people will die, people will get sick, fail, etc etc. Enlightenment is called enlightenment for a reason, it clearly isnt the same thing as manifestation and make everything perfect

......

Thing is Enlightenment is a slippery word, what it 'means' is dependant on who is using it and to what end.

[C T]

Solitude is a valuable tool.

 

 

Good point!

 

That's exactly what it is.. a tool.

 

A working state of being. Crave it, and its usefulness diminishes. Shun it, and the opportunity to progress deeper gets lost.

 

Any spiritual work, to an extent, can only be undertaken by oneself, for oneself (first of all).

 

Without setting the mind ready for renunciation, this passage will be made all the more arduous.

 

Renunciation has a scary ring for many. They think of monks and hermits who physically renounce worldly concerns to enter into the religious call.

 

But truthfully, every sincere spiritual traveller will have made either a conscious or unconscious decision to renounce some aspect of themselves which they have seen to be unsatisfactory, and having garnered this enlightening insight, a willful choice to transcend is effected.

 

Such a task need not be undertaken outside of one's present surrounds. One can still withdraw from the world, yet remain engaged in the world. Its not a prerequisite that to gain emancipation one has to leave all and head to the mountains. The stronger ones, those who have conquered their minds, can touch freedom wherever they lay their hat. Liberation has no set rules. In fact, any rule or extreme measure which one believes need strict adherence in order to attain liberation is the very chain which binds one tighter to bondage.

 

Renunciation is the prelude to the discovery of joyous abandonment. Joyous abandonment brings forth ease. With ease, solitude arises effortlessly.

Edited January 25, 2013 by C T

[skydog]

......

Thing is Enlightenment is a slippery word, what it 'means' is dependant on who is using it and to what end.

 

In a way there is only now so it can only be now, but can also be during thinking to some extent. Yeah it is a slippery word, but it kind of points to a reality of yeh what this thread is about deep contentment and inner peace during most/all situations and living spontaneously maybe, it could also mean immortality, I dont know about that. I dont think manifestation or superpowers is a permanent and therefore 100% useful thing when one sees clearly. Trying to change anything almost seems like always a mind sickness. and yeh anything I just wrote can be argued as well

[Apech]

......

Thing is Enlightenment is a slippery word, what it 'means' is dependant on who is using it and to what end.

 

 

Banana skin is a slippery word ... it means one thing to the banana and another to you.

[WillingToListen]

I'm 24 going through some degree of awakening/arousal currently and I say, "FUCK SOLITUDE"

[skydog]

I'm 24 going through some degree of awakening/arousal currently and I say, "FUCK SOLITUDE"

fair enough, actually I dont advocate it, it happened to me without much choice, well also I didnt want to hang around certain people, but I can see some effects of it..

 

peace

[C T]

I'm 24 going through some degree of awakening/arousal currently and I say, "FUCK SOLITUDE"

thats why you are 24.

[GrandmasterP]

 

 

Banana skin is a slippery word ... it means one thing to the banana and another to you.

......

Q... What so you call two banana skins?

 

A... A pair of slippers.

[GrandmasterP]

thats why you are 24.

.......

24 is no age for solitude.

Parrtaaay

:-)

[skydog]

thats why you are 24.

 

yeh in this society being 24 must mean that you should be weak and powerless, unemployed, working some crappy job/just coming out of uni a nobody in the world. Fuck that I decide what my age means, people in the past were kings and warlords at younger than 20

[skydog]

.......

24 is no age for solitude.

Parrtaaay

:-)

 

Plus I didnt say go and have solitude, why do people misinterpet everything

[GrandmasterP]

I knew that, it's a good thread NE way.

I'm of the opinion that anyone who chooses to live like a hermit or a monk who is young enough to have a blast and enjoy life is seriously missing out on a shit load of fun.

Do what you can when you can and store happy memories and super experiences against the day when you're too old and knackered to do it anymore.

Comes soon enough does old age and decrepitude, time enough for spiritual musings then and they are a great comfort to one's declining years.