The Benefits of Solitude

Abstract

The Chinese sage Ching Chow proclaimed that ‘What fools call loneliness, wise men know as solitude’.1 We do not know, of course, precisely what he meant by ‘fools’: did he mean people of every level of culture and education who are foolish in their outlook and behaviour, or had he in mind those who are simple and unlettered like the average Chinese peasant of his time? Again, what exactly did he mean by ‘wise men’ — those who are educated and learned, or those who are sensible and canny whatever their status in life? It is certain that the educated have the advantage of having abundant intellectual resources within themselves which they can draw upon when quite cut off from human companionship, but there are plenty of examples of men and women of little education who have happily embraced a solitary way of life in occupations such as shepherding or religious seclusion. Perhaps the individual’s reaction to being alone is more a matter of personal temperament and the factors that have determined the aloneness.KeywordsFalse ConfessionEysenck Personality QuestionnaireElderly ClientSocial IntercourseFamily NestThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.