I wonder if the natural evolution of humankind is to be alone. Since the hunter gatherer times, one of the major goals has always been to enhance our safety and security. In these primitive eras, it wasn’t possible to feel safe and secure without being in a large tribe of other humans. It seems that it is built into us to not want to be alone for reasons of safety, security and even happiness. In order to perpetuate the species you couldn’t do it alone either.
So it must not be nature’s intention for us to be alone? I strongly believed this until recently. When I say recently, I mean yesterday. We’re more alone and disconnected than in any other time because of our progression towards ultimate safety, security and technology. We no longer need anyone in our regular lives to survive. In hunter gatherer times I don’t think anyone had any grandiose ideas of venturing off by themselves thinking that they would be better off. Any tiger with a broken leg can kill a lone human.
It does suck to be alone sometimes but I’m pretty sure the majority of people have had moments when they have entertained the thought of separating themselves from the regular people in their lives. A moment when they thought cutting off all ties to people in their regular lives would be the better path. No one would seriously entertain any thought if they didn’t think it was possible. You wouldn’t get off an elevator and jump out the window to get to the ground floor because you know there’s no possibility of it being a better option.
Being able to comfortably survive on your own is fairly new and also not available worldwide. It’s a work in progress and our era is like the beta version with bugs. From an evolutionary standpoint, I think the end goal is to be even more alone than we already are but also happier. We’ve further advanced our physical aloneness with the internet. We no longer need people around us at all times to feel safe and now we don’t need people for many other things because of the internet. You can have a conversation online, buy stuff online, learn stuff online, run an online business.
You can connect with people without being around people. We say all this disconnection is unhealthy and detrimental to society but this is what humans really wanted. We’ve been working towards this since the beginning of time. We went from tribes to families to being more alone. If we thought being in a huge tribe was better then that’s what we would be doing. Sure, you could have probably survived alone during the Mongol Empire but it definitely wasn’t as safe. You still had to worry about other humans killing you or making you their slave
To think that the technology we have now is as good as it gets is being naive. It’s going to keep on advancing to a stage that most of us cannot even imagine. No one imagined 25 years ago that we would have what we have now. To show you how handicapped our ability to predict the future is, even when CD’s and Laser Discs were available, no one ever said there would one day be something the size of a CD that could play movies at Laser Disc quality. Maybe one day I will be able to hang out with you without leaving my home and when I get sick of you, I’ll just close my eyes and wish myself out of there.
Perhaps being alone is an evolutionary process that happens when a society reaches a point of safety, security, technological advancement and a sufficient population. The birth rate in developed nations has declined. You can attribute this to birth control, women wanting careers, abortion or whatever but the end goal is to have less people around you. Also, having the option to sit at home watching TV, playing video games, using the internet, will affect the chances of people going out and reproducing.
When there is something that affects a group of humans, there automatically will be a desire to fix it. That’s what we do. It doesn’t even really have to be a problem, it just has to be something we want to make better. People don’t like to be around certain people all the time or even some of the time but they feel that they have to and people don’t always like to feel alone either so I think it’s possible that one day technology and culture will provide an alternative.
I think we are even more alone than ever with the internet. Alone in a certain way. We are more alone with our own thoughts and we are left to interpret what others have to say rather than to FEEL what they say.
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This is true and it appears this is what a lot of people seem to want. People rather send text messages and emails, and avoid an actual phone conversation unless absolutely necessary. I guess it requires too much energy and thought to interact in real life when there’s an easier option.
As alone one can feel on the internet, it must have been much worse before when you had no one to physically talk to and no internet.
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I’ve been thinking about the latter and it will be so much easier to be elderly hopefully with the ability to connect on the Internet. Of course being loners will be built into elderly people once today’s youth is aged.
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In truth people are alone but have replaced people with surrogates such as television and Facebook. I prefer being away from people because it allows me to develop my philosophy.
The modern world makes it easier for people to live the illusion of being alone since so much in life is provided at a touch of a button. It would be a foolish person who says this situation will last when the unstable state of the world is observed.
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It’s hard to say what will happen in the future but ya, nothing ever lasts.
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Reblogged this on Black Women Have It Going On and commented:
This is an interesting take on being alone. Hum . . .
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Hey! I finally came across a post of yours. Sorry, I haven’t visited you for some time but I am glad to see you’re still blogging. I found this post very interesting.
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No need to apologize. It’s been a while but I do remember you. People come and go on this blogging thing all the time. It’s not unusual either for people to get sick or offended by my blog..haha. Glad you enjoyed this post.
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I don’t get offended when people are sharing what is real, and most of all what is real for their journey. I’m just glad to see you are still among us bloggers and blogging.
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I love this post. It has really opened my eyes to seeing that other people think in the same way I do. I am having serious troubles with the modern world; I feel I don’t fit in. I now know it’s ok to be alone and I am working on having more respect for myself. Awesome post.
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Thanks! It’s lonely to feel that you don’t fit in and don’t know where you belong. I’m sure there’s lots of people who feel this way but they don’t exactly have it written on the front of their shirt. It’s a slow and discouraging process but you’ll love yourself more as time goes on.
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Alone
Days run into one another,
slowly,
with a shade of
unconscious constancy,
and I sit in my empty room,
silently,
watching them,
go down with the sun.
Some fill this emptiness
with fake loves;
some with the drone of
traffic,
human voices,
lifeworks;
and
still other with
regret of
young dreams
cut short in sleep.
But I like it
the way it is:
devoid of embellishments,
stark, honest, cruel and intimate
like the desert.
My
life has the simplicity
of the morning dew –
there is no pretense,
no theatrics:
I have no one to please.
It is a
strange journey
and I have no
companion:
all philosophical
musings, meanings,
and quests have ended;
there’s nothing
to create,
nothing to be understood and defined.
A peaceful sleep
has filled the very core
of my being –
sometimes I sink; sometimes I rise.
And the awareness
that
in reality
there is no journey itself,
but only the passage of time;
the crossing-over
to that shore where nothing awaits,
not even Time;
this certainty colours everything
in the silvery hue
of the smoke –
the room,
the air,
my morning, noon, and night.
Yes,
I drift away like the river
which has no consciousness
of living
except that it exists;
and that existence is
its meaning,
its music,
its goal.
No fear of the unknown,
no pain to hide
behind the smile;
I can look into the mirror,
straight,
and know that
the mirror won’t turn away
its eyes.
There is a rare joy in this:
I feel young, I feel old.
I feel complete
as I sit by the window and watch
the days passing by,
all alone.
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