Alone Not Lonely


For 32 years I’ve lived alone in the woods for a great length of time. Friends would ask if I get lonely and I would reply no.

In my teens, I read Walden. Thoreau concludes by acknowledging that the average person reading his words may not understand them. Every new day, I rejoice the sunrise as a “morning star” heralding new wonders to come.

Thoreau exemplified this by stating;

Direct your eye inward, and you'll find / A thousand regions in your mind / Yet undiscovered. Travel them, and be / expert in home-cosmography

I interpret Thoreau as saying we can discover boundless things looking inward. I lessen my suffering and tap greater freedom with such introspection. Thoreau recognized the value of inner staycations by simple contemplation. Seeing things right at my home has been priceless for me. Travel is a matter of perspective, not location. With curiosity, an open mind, and a broad horizon of free time, it's possible to travel in your own backyard

 Every new day, I rejoice the sunrise as a “morning star” heralding new wonders to my
 forest and its well-being.  

Nietzsche calls solitude a virtue. "Choose the solitude," he recommends, "the free, playful, light solitude, that gives you, too, the right to remain good in some sense." 

Nietzsche elaborated, “some people are so used to solitude with themselves that they never compare themselves to others but spin forth their monologue of a life in a calm, joyous mood, holding good conversations with themselves, even laughing.”

For Nietzsche, then, solitude is the foil against corrupt society and the asserting of a higher level of values.

I seek refuge in my insights of not being lonely yet alone.






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