Ultimately Alone

The only journey is the one within
                          Ranier Maria Rilke

Alone

To be alone...

To be able to be alone

One of the more popular television shows in the genre of "survival" is simply called "Alone."  10 skilled survivalists are dropped off miles apart in a remote region of the world.  From Canada to Patagonia, they must survive using only their skills and a few personal items.  They have clothing appropriate to the climate and sometimes a few simple items like fish hooks or a knife.  One participant actually brought down a moose with a bow and arrow.  Not a high-tech weapon, just a simple, self-made bow, and arrow.  These folks have real skills.  One of the women on the show once made herself a sauna.  She lined a shelter with found materials, built a fireplace with rocks and heated water for steam.  There was even a mossy path to the sauna that she built.  Real skills.  Sometimes contestants have made their own instruments, like an animal gut string banjo or a flute whittled from a tree branch.  Music goes with being alone so well.

The person who can stay alone the longest wins a cash prize ($250,000 or more) so that is the motivation.  These folks are mostly young, but occasionally there is a person over 50.  In the end, barring a serious injury, what gets people to tap out and end their attempt is the isolation.  

More proof positive that the ability to be alone is difficult, yet important.

Socrates said that humans were "by nature a political animal."  A strict interpretation would mean that we choose to live in governments for self-protection.  Politics, right?  But I submit it also means we choose to live in and among other people.  The implication here is that alone, we are or may be less.

There is much to savor in living alone.  A rare few choose to do so.  Most others find themselves alone and either tolerate it or spend time and energy trying to remedy that situation.

Like Rilke, the Austrian poet suggests, the task of inner solitude is a desirable goal.

In my view, a solitary living experience is not only worthwhile, but it might also even be necessary for self-knowledge.  To the young, it seems unnatural.  I recall asking a class of mine one time if anyone ever went to a movie alone.  Very few.  At the time, I did it regularly.  To them going to a movie alone meant having to go alone.  That meant there were reasons, very bad reasons probably, that they had to go alone.  The unevolved fear being alone.

     Being in nature is a great antidote to feeling alone while being alone.  You don't have to model yourself after Thoreau to experience the joy of solidarity.  Just a few hours near a river, lake, or ocean will do.  Hike up a mountain, walk an outdoor path, or, in my case go fishing.

In the end, we are all ultimately alone.  This knowledge has helped me enjoy my time with other people even more.