Man is a social animal.

How many lessons in civics and history have started with that statement. How much I disliked it then. And yet I find it the start of my post today. However I write an opposing point of view.

In praise of solitude.

It is in solitude that we think. And to be able to think, is to be able to understand. To be able to create.

In solitude there is a restrain. A dignity and a grace. A completeness that comes from within. And it is from this completeness that comes a serene peace. A peace of knowing oneself.

So much so that even animals, in quiet solitude attain a greater quality of intelligence. Of human dignity.

While often human social gatherings are described as ‘wild’ parties. The people in them being party animals’. Or a mob. Led by not so much their personal rational judgement but by brainless crowd dynamics.

Perhaps then it is when in solitude that we are truly human. Exploring our full potential.