Solitude was something that one earned though grace and was generally sought after for the benefit of the community or all sentient beings. Imagine that as I write this or you read this - there are yogis deep within the earth in caves and caverns in the deepest samadhi - praying for peace on earth and harmonious living between all sentient beings. There are Rishis who are in other lokas ('worlds', 'realities', 'higher vibrational plains') that are like astral caves deep in the abyss of the creation also doing the same...they have earned the final salvation...they have earned the final 'resting in peace'...yet they shunned their private salvation and liberation and created self-made cosmos to further do their sadhana ('yogic practice') for the benefit of all.
The Prophets all went into solitude away from the haunts of men to further question the Lord, their God...to further realize their purpose...to find solutions to the problems that lay within society...to conquer the senses and be 'turners of the wheel'...to evoke a resurrection of the fundamental precepts layed down by the Rishis...to speak the gospel of Truth and awaken man in his slumber...
Today, we find that children and teenagers are given too much time alone without any foundation in meditative techniques...there is generally no guidance as to what one must reflect, contemplate or meditate upon...In the past, there was no escape from your community...whether you were bullied or not...you had to deal with it...your actions were watched and compared to the normal traditional values & precepts...children were listened to and their dreams and suggestions were considered with the same attention as their parents...Few dared to venture into the solitudes without a purpose...
Nowadays, we find - especially in the so-called 'developed' world...thousands of children and youths spending entire days without contact with society...A quiet person can slip through the cracks because he may be 'unremarkable' or of no immediate interest. They push themselves into an isolation from their family, peers and society. When the prophets sought out solitude it may have been from an existential angst, however, there was a self-contentment...there was a confidence in their message...a message that they risked their lives preaching on crowded streets and parks...They had drunk the mystic wine only gained through deep yogic meditation...
...a wine so sublime all other enjoyments in life pale in comparison...
When a mere lost child seeks solitude, it is due to isolation caused through lack of confidence or despair in finding ones place in the scheme of things - this can be argued as a good thing, however, an imagined 'solitude' where they identify with other lost children so they may be 'together alone' where the 'us versus them' paradigm is re-inforced is no longer solitude in a self-contented state, but eventual hypocritical fantasy...True solitude is not thinking of what other people have that you do not...That is festering in your own envy and jealousy...This is re-inforced by what we are conditioned to believe in society...The 'in-crowd' conditioned breeds the 'loner'conditioned...both are conditioned...both serve each other meglomania on a bourgeois plate.
It is critical that young men are not let to wander and wallow in their own morbid fantasies in isolation...whether there be a name to the condition or not...this primarily male denomination of human society is one of the greatest dangers to the community at large - primarily women and children. It is absolutely staggering to sweep across the drama of human existence and see how much suffering was wrought by a man that is not satisfied within themselves and is preoccupied with what is not in their possession - whether it be women he does not know personally or women that are seeking satisfaction elsewhere - in another or their Self. Women generally feel the existential angst once a month throughout a great portion of their lives...There is little comfort in those moments...but the recurrence shows that it is a natural cycle...in some traditional societies that is time to bond for women...because women working harmoniously together often synchronise their moons...
Depression, psychosis and alienation of an individual are the problems of the community...and the teachings of the Rishis have long foretold of tragedy that unfolds when these patterns are not dealt with through incorporating yogic meditation along with herbal medicines...When one fosters self-contentment...all the thoughts of what others have drop off in due course...
Let us look at Stephen Hawking...here we find an individual who, no doubt, may have experienced existential angst at the thought of what others have and he does not...but his introspection led him to find that he has a consciousness...a consciousness that is pure...he has honed his intellect and mental faculty to be way above average in comparison to those whom he may feel have 'more' - in terms of physical mobility and the pleasures there derived. He can be said to be completely helpless - completely dependent on modern technology and on the loving care of others...yet his brain waves and eye movements are still precious in communicating thought-provoking theories of existence and reality. Had he been born in another time or indeed in another part of the world today, he may have been seen crawling on the side of the road begging for change...muttering and fluttering incomprehensibly...There is a time and place for every 'disability' to let shine its spark of divinity...
Below we find the healing wisdom of the Rishis given by the One whom inspired their realizations and prophecy...If one deeply contemplates upon the purport we can find how violence erupts from the deluded mind and intellect...
Arjuna said:
What is it that drives a man to commit evil, Varsneya (Oh Krishna),
however reluctantly, as though propelled by force?
The Blessed Lord spoke:
It is desire, it is anger, which springs from the force of rajas
(restless dynamic activity-'centrifugal movement'),
the great devourer, the great evil: know that this is the enemy here.
This world is clouded by it as fire by smoke,
as a mirror by dust,
as an embryo by the caul.
The knowledge of the conscient is covered by this eternal enemy desire,
Kaunteya (Oh Arjuna), as by an insatiable fire.
The senses, the mind and the intellect (what one may think is his spirit) are said to be its lair:
by means of them it clouds knowledge
and leads into delusion the one within the body (the embodied Soul - the jivatman).
Therefore, Oh great warrior, first control/purify your senses,
then kill off that evil which destroys insight and knowledge.
~Bhagavad Gita 3:36-43
