From Thoreau to Fiorina:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden“There is another solitude, perhaps more understood, more naturally respected, than that of the hermit. It is when you no longer feel a part of these others, when you no longer participate in their mode of living, making a world apart from them in which they no longer count, from which they are excluded. It is when you no longer accept their love, their benevolence, their hypocrisy—and your solitude then becomes freedom, rebellion, it is open defiance of society.”
— Marilisa Fiorina, Freedom and Solitude
When we look at these quotes on solitude and being alone with oneself, we get the sense that there is more to solitude than meets the eye. It is not simply avoid all human contact, it is a healing process. Undertaken by those with deep trauma from society, and mistrust of the systems of care meant to address those feelings. In our modern life, we are subjected to countless instances of being alone while surrounded by thousands of people. This is alienation, the root cause of which is a lack of meaningful connection with people because of the many modes of socialization brought on by capitalism. We are trained from birth that people are strangers, they are dangerous, and not to be trusted. This belies the fact that we are all the same, one collective spirit. If we want to taste true liberation then it must be at the fount of collectivism.
But there is immense value in the individualist point of view, what we are here examining. For a long time I struggled with the gnawing desire to go live alone in the woods. Later in life I realized that humans are social animals in need of community, but the fire still burns for something meaningful in the solitude of the woods. After realizing that I was autistic at 30 years old, I learned more about myself and what was under my “mask” than the previous 30 years combined. This led to the discovery of feelings of abandonment, isolation, and discomfort around most people. But there was nothing wrong with me, after all its just my specific neurology. So I began to develop sympathy for these lonely devils, the ones who hermit themselves away in the silent magic of a sunlit afternoon. But I also regret the fact that they needed to remove themselves from our presence to do so. They are stumbling through the dark searching for something real, and we need to break down the barriers and join them in the woods.
Solitude Vs Isolation
What is the difference between the terms isolation and solitude? How do we use them in this article? Here, at least, we will define these concepts as different, and perhaps even in opposition. For us isolation is the sensation of not having meaningful connections with other beings. This can occur in the middle of a large city, or in a clearing in the woods. Isolation is brutal and painful, it is toxic and self-reinforcing. It alienates people from each other regardless of how close they are to you physically. On the other hand, solitude is a healing process, it is deliberately being alone with ones own mind in order to better understand your needs and desires. Solitude can also happen anywhere. It is finding an inner peace and being able to sit with and understand yourself.
The context of this article is that the self-isolation that can go hand in hand with solitude is to be absorbed into the concept of solitude, leaving isolation for itself as a way to draw a contrast between healthy solitude and harmful isolation.
The difference can now be seen to be quite stark indeed. We can see that solitude is a natural state that humans require from time to time. Whereas isolation is harmful to those experiencing it. Solitude is the journey the heart must take in order to find love in others. Isolation is what keeps us from sharing that love with them. If we can cultivate more solitude and abolish isolation, we will make sure that our children do not grow up with that trauma of “being alone” but can spend healthy amounts of time refreshing themselves in the wellspring of boredom and creation that comes with “being alone”.
The Western Romantic Viewpoint
Why are we running off to the woods?
In the West there is a long and bloody history of the obsession with acquisition of land, turning that indigenous environment into a mess of towns and cities. We then turned around and eyed the leftover bits of land that weren’t developed with jealousy and greed. We romanticize the idea of nature, of the untouched wilderness. This is a whitewashing of the real histories of the many indigenous cultures that actually inhabited and harmonized with these ecologies for generations.
The “natural” world that we so cherish in our parks and open spaces were once cultivated by those indigenous ancestors to the point of near perfect ecological sustainability. Techniques such as controlled burns, terra preta, and polycropping made the forests and fields we enjoy today possible. Upon feeling the wrath of those early settler/farmers this land was decimated into nothing but dust around the turn of the century. This destroyed incalculable species and environments that we can never get back. This romantic viewpoint is toxic as it is insidious. It makes the viewer think that they are celebrating something primal and ancient when in fact they are worshiping at the feet of a genocide.
The “Wild”
In regards to the previous section we can know recognize the inherent flaws in the mode of thinking that leads one to believe that anything is truly “natural”. This concept of the wild is an old one that comes out of this Western chauvinism. It also is innately conservative since it seeks to maintain a certain time period of ecological representation. In reality things are always moving, changing, fluxing, and evolving, nothing stays the same, everything adapts. Yet we seem to impose a stagnation on the wild, making it sterile in the process. This harms us all as it is the sustainable maintenance of living systems that is the key to our liberated future. Learning about why these concepts are harmful, and where they stem from (racism, white supremacy, and western chauvinism) is crucial for us trying to make changes in the real world. In order to bring about the world we are building, we need to acknowledge our true past and live up to the promises of the future.
We can often glorify wildness in anarchist circles, and certainly there is something liberatory in acting from a deep primal urge to know joy. But when it is applied to the so called natural areas that make up our environments, it takes on the patina of an old outdated mode of thought. It stinks of narcissism to think that this specific set of biologies that made up the world around us in the middle of the 20th century should be maintained perpetually without change, to believe that our way, our time, is the best. We must change our views on this subject if there is any hope of conquering our oppressors, they want us to think that the wild exists out there ready for the taking, ready for development. But the reality is that everything is natural, even the constructions of humanity stem from nature. It is no more wild for a badger in the forest to hunt a bug, than it is for a raven in the city to steal trash from your dumpster. All is beautiful and in need of saving, but we will not save anything by keeping things the same. We must adapt, we must grow together into something better.
Whose Land?
Landback is the idea that because of the reality that this land was stolen from the Indigenous inhabitants by Western settler colonialism. It is the realization that this trauma is generational and effects people down to their very DNA. It maintains that we must give what has been taken back to those who have been responsible for caring for this land since time immemorial. We shouldn’t seek long term reforms that slowly return some land to the hands of Indian Nations, but we should abdicate ALL stolen lands back to the rightful caretakers immediately and without limitations. They are the ones who will decide what to do with all the leftover settlers, not us. They are the ones who can heal this damage, not us. They are the ones who have the knowledge and vision to create sustainable food systems that harmonize with the world at large. We should step down and listen to what they have to say.
Making Strides Towards Truth
So, you want to have some alone time. You may be burnt out on people, or just taking some time for mindfulness in your day. Regardless, the goal is the same: to learn the truth of reality and apply its practical information to our movements. When you sit with your thoughts and examine the self within, you can start to heal and learn to listen to the anarchist inside all of us. Truth is fundamental to any anarchist project. We base our actions in the rel world, not fantasy. We approach the horrors of the world with eyes wide open, and boy does it take its toll on us. We can recharge ourselves and tune into our desires and needs by spending time away from other beings.
In order to find the truth you are looking for stillness of mind is required. This allows the thoughts that plague our subconscious to flourish into the conscious mind. Then they can be analyzed and done away with if they no longer serve our needs. This is how internal biases can be caught and addressed, as well as a successful method of making ethical decisions through an anarchist framework. Since no one knows what the whole truth is, the best we can do is to stumble our way through the darkness together, slowly progressing towards the light, as we gather up the small pieces of truth that fall into our realm of understanding. Without this meandering stumbling, we would be stuck forever in the seedy darkness that prevents so many from seeing the truth of reality. That we are not alone, we are one, and we are powerful enough to change the world.
Know Thyself
The basis of solitude is getting to know yourself better. This is healthy for you and for your loved ones, they will undoubtedly appreciate the fact that you know who you are and what you want. In order to show up for those in your life your own self but be familiar to you. We cannot grow as a person while stuck in a relationship with another person who we cant talk to about our feelings. If this is the case, then get out now, if not, then you risk being absorbed into this other person, unable to plan and think for yourself.
You cannot fill someone’s cup when yours is empty. This is no mere platitude, it is a fundamental part of successful organizing. Compassion will only get you so far, you must take care of your emotional health when engaging in this work. Clear boundaries must be set and enforced and steps taken to ensure that your thoughts are your own. We are so easily influenced by those close to us, solitude allows us to escape this influence and really connect to our internal selves. By spending time in deep reflection and contemplation we can make the realizations that are necessary to survive. Our survival is typically dependent on others, but solitude reminds us that we can (and should) take care of ourselves. This makes our movements more resilient and joyful.
We Are Coming To Join You In The Woods
The goal of the collectivist is not to get everyone to live a few mega cities with green spaces in between, or at least it doesn’t have to mean that. It can mean whatever we talk about and agreed to with our loves. Even the collectivist yearns for the green woods and the dappled sunlight. We all want to join you individualist in the woods, making magic and eating berries off the stem. We all want to run naked through fields of flowers, making love under the stars, and drinking from the river. But the individualist seeks these experiences by themselves. The collectivist sees through the trauma of isolationist politics, and seeks to strengthen the bonds between humans and the rest of the living world by committing acts of service in their community.
Will you have us, in your cabin, in the forest? Can’t we join together in feral dancing mischief? We respect your needs for solitude, but please don’t isolate yourself. We need you here and kicking. This struggle for freedom is not one that can be done without the participation of people who have the skill of being alone. Those skills are valuable in our modern world, so alienated from everything by capitalism. You can teach us collectivists how to disconnect from the joy work that can be so painful sometimes. You can help our self care routines by providing us guidance on solitude. We can help you by preventing your alone time from turning into isolation. We are coming, prepare the table for friends.