It strikes me that it’s so difficult to get true solitude these days! We’re just always connected. I’m trying to spend more time with my phone on silent these days.
id do the same with phone but its always connected to bluetooth speaker with music and each time beeps when theres a message or email aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Absolutely. Very true. We writers need space, distance from society in order to form new insights which come from deep within. Some of my best writing comes from this source of being alone.
Great read on Solitude and the Creative Life is Fenton Johnson's At the Center of All Beauty. It played a huge part in my decision not to return to my art groups after the lockdown ended. I really am happier doing my own thing in my own space.
I once heard you should always write with the door closed. It stuck with me for the reasons you state, even if I don't necessarily follow it. My best work happens when I pop awake in the middle of the night to a quiet house.
Great post. This essay made me think of the difference between loneliness and aloneness. It’s easy to see that everything you said applies to aloneness, aka being alone, but I really got to thinking about whether loneliness, aka feeling alone, might have some creative benefits as well. I suppose that any strong feeling can lend itself to great writing, provided one is able to express it clearly on the page.
"Creating art can be a transformative act that helps individuals cope with loneliness."
For me and i assume many solitude is a cherished state which only on occasion and incidentally involves "loneliness" as by nature extroverts find what they need in the form of human interaction even if it can lead to misunderstanding or frustration in fiercely independent thinkers who react against the desire of others to find common ground, acquiesce? Loneliness sets in only when i sense that i fail to communicate genuinely or am misapprehended or categorised or act out in ways i feel guilty for later. The natural world is less judgemental and comparative. It just states simple needs and demands simple actions to live and the witnesses to those actions are non-human and thereby far less distracting ie "make a camp fire as if no-one was watching". And banking the coals to that fire the true essence of your heart, your art? emerges....perhaps.
It strikes me that it’s so difficult to get true solitude these days! We’re just always connected. I’m trying to spend more time with my phone on silent these days.
id do the same with phone but its always connected to bluetooth speaker with music and each time beeps when theres a message or email aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Same here. Even when I go to the library, I get pestered by people wanting to talk or distracted by my phone.
Absolutely. Very true. We writers need space, distance from society in order to form new insights which come from deep within. Some of my best writing comes from this source of being alone.
Great read on Solitude and the Creative Life is Fenton Johnson's At the Center of All Beauty. It played a huge part in my decision not to return to my art groups after the lockdown ended. I really am happier doing my own thing in my own space.
I once heard you should always write with the door closed. It stuck with me for the reasons you state, even if I don't necessarily follow it. My best work happens when I pop awake in the middle of the night to a quiet house.
Great post. This essay made me think of the difference between loneliness and aloneness. It’s easy to see that everything you said applies to aloneness, aka being alone, but I really got to thinking about whether loneliness, aka feeling alone, might have some creative benefits as well. I suppose that any strong feeling can lend itself to great writing, provided one is able to express it clearly on the page.
"Creating art can be a transformative act that helps individuals cope with loneliness."
For me and i assume many solitude is a cherished state which only on occasion and incidentally involves "loneliness" as by nature extroverts find what they need in the form of human interaction even if it can lead to misunderstanding or frustration in fiercely independent thinkers who react against the desire of others to find common ground, acquiesce? Loneliness sets in only when i sense that i fail to communicate genuinely or am misapprehended or categorised or act out in ways i feel guilty for later. The natural world is less judgemental and comparative. It just states simple needs and demands simple actions to live and the witnesses to those actions are non-human and thereby far less distracting ie "make a camp fire as if no-one was watching". And banking the coals to that fire the true essence of your heart, your art? emerges....perhaps.
Solitude is where the mud turns into the lotus
...but it is so important to draw a distinction between creative solitude and enduring loneliness.