This reminds me of my desire to leave digital spaces like social media. I think to myself, “if I quit instagram/tiktok/reddit all of my problems will be solved, the noise will be gone, and I can finally do the thinking that needs to be done!” While I still think that reducing the time we spend in digital spaces is part of the answer to living the good life, I also think that withdrawing from the world doesn’t bring any real lasting peace.
Is this to say one shouldn't withdraw from digital spaces? My perspective is that those spaces are somewhat fake and by rejecting them you don't escape the world but truly reenter it.
I’ve tried and failed many times. The loneliness that comes from complete withdrawal from social media is crushing. The amount of effort it takes to curate your social media presence feels like a job on its own. Until everyone gives up social media and goes outside, anyone would find it kinda lonely. The destruction of third places, in my mind, is a kind of desecration. There are no places near me where I can connect with another person and not have to shell out cash. Sadly, I don’t have an answer for you since here we are, connecting on a digital space.
I find that when I get away, I can hear myself think, and I oddly become more extroverted with the room there is to spread out in. It is a pain to be far away from necessities, so somewhere in the middle is ideal. Forty-five minutes away from a major town on a river by the ocean is where I’d feel like myself. It would most definitely help my writing and my health. The way we live is so strange, so inhumane. Just shared this to notes recently:
“I have met enough people and have experienced enough places that I don’t belong. I’d prefer to hermit, water my garden, and make things.”
I’ve been reading through (admittedly slowly) Thoreau’s 14-volume journal this year. What strikes me about it is that the vast majority of his entries aren’t philosophical, but completely naturalistic. Pages and pages of what flowers are in bloom, what the weather is doing, which birds are singing, etc. So it seems to me that Thoreau was very much in the world with this thinking, as the majority of his thinking seemed to be spent on taking in and categorizing the natural world. I think Thoreau viewed society as a departure from the natural world, so the point of his departure wasn’t to escape from the world, but rather to get in touch with a world that had been escaped (or forgotten or abandoned) by the trappings of society.
All this to say that the old “build a cabin in the woods” trope was only a very small part of what Thoreau did. So it seems that making such a project of the cabin itself would miss the point. What good is a cabin in the woods if you aren’t going to know the woods in which you’ve built your cabin? (Not to mention that the “cabin” he built was about the size of a prison cell and more or less completely exposed to the elements. The cabin was more a necessary inconvenience than his actual project.)
I have for as long as I can remember been tempted by the the call to escape into nature and quiet. When I was a kid I read all of the Julie of the Wolves books by Jean Craighead George. Another one I loved was Island of the Blue Dolphins about a girl who is stranded alone on an island. There was something about the idea of being completely alone that felt so comforting and safe to me. Of course it is a fantasy as even the most die-hard introverts sometimes need people, and even sometimes have to ask (god, no) for (cringe) help (yikes).
Full disclosure: I live in the middle of the Maine woods, now, and it's glorious. I didn't build my own house. I'm not off grid (Thank you broadband initiatives). All my problems didn't go away, but I am less stressed overall, and in a much better mental state to handle problems when they arise. There's a lot of tradeoffs for sure. It's a different lifestyle. Some nights I really would love to be able to get door dash or pizza delivery. Instead I get pizza mind. (sorry.)
The last clause in your first paragraph brings back many New England memories for me. (I lived in Boston and then Connecticut for 6 years.) The worst thing you can do: ask someone for help!
Depends on what exactly you mean! Arendt on natality and plurality may be relevant; Emerson on self-reliance provides a little bit of the backdrop for the discussion, too; there are many philosophers in the 19th century who tried to make cases for individualism, but that may take us too far afield.
I also have those desire to move somewhere new. Usually, the urge strengthens as the chaos and noise of life increases. Then I am reminded that often the problems from which I want escape are internal problems and will be waiting for me wherever I settle. There is nothing wrong in running away to something new, something exciting, some kind of new adventure. But if I want to run away from something, I will be better if I face the situation and address the root causes.
Cal Newport’s writing states something similar to Sertillanges. Newport argues in Slow Productivity about the need to doing fewer things and be a disciplined scheduler. Now that he has becomes more financially successful he rents office space to facilitate his deep thinking and writing. He has, in effect, created a cabin in the city. It helps immensely that he has a supportive wife to care for their children during the day and he has reliable staff for his day job.
I had forgotten many of the books you mentioned but I distinctly remember having the same wilderness kick as a kid. Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain are classics. You're right to warn against this temping escapism. There's a great, popular YouTube video on this topic - The Answer is Not a Hut in the Woods.
Really liked this piece. I am interested to know if you’ve seen a difference in yourself over time when it comes to retreating to your inner citadel. For myself, when I was younger (20s, early 30s) it was much easier for me to get there regardless of the external world/situation. I could find a string of thought and allow that to carry me inward. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed it is harder. I’ve been trying to reflect upon whether this is because I am naturally thinking deeper or on harder subjects or if it is because of aging/more commitments/responsibility, or a combination of both.
Absolutely loved "My Side of the Mountain" when I was a kid in the early 90's, but man did it fill my head up with some ideas. The climax was when my dad found me in a patch of woods on a rainy night about 20 yards from the house, huddled under an old tarp and telling him I was trying to get away from it all. I slept better that night after he brought me back in the house than I ever had before.
Anyway, that book was definitely an early "Walden" for me, and years later, I became a lot more logical about getting away from it all, like actually checking my tarps and tents for holes before I went camping. Being outdoors definitely gave me a lot of time to think, and I definitely got some great thoughts completed (i.e. I don't need to do this all the time). These days, I'm happy to be a sojouner in civilized life. As Miller puts it in "Repo Man", "I do my best thinking on the bus."
This is great. Thoreau and many of the books mentioned are among my favorites. I try and go on small retreats from life and the longer they are the more clearly I can think. Spending a week or two in a canoe by yourself can give you a much needed break from outside noise.
I always dream about a house by the sea. Filling the day with writing, reading, and watching the sea. But then, what can I write about when I'm not interacting with others and when I'm so distant from society and their problems. The choice of peace of mind or being aware of your society and time. Difficult. I still wish to have a house by the sea.
Thanks for sharing. This reminds me of what Jenny Odell wrote in “How to do nothing” where she says that wanting to retreat and hide into the woods is counterproductive in a sense because we can’t truly avoid the problems that society faces. (At least that’s what my memory tells me.) I think withdrawing from “the world of appearances” may be necessary for thinking, but a lot of human advances come from interaction and interchange with other people
I live in a very small town, far from any big city, and I have to say that it changes my perspective on life. However, even in a place like here, one can get filled with online noise or unconscious living, so I think it is more about the mindset than the place, as you said. Great piece!
"I built my cottage in the realm of men,
and yet there's no clamor of carriages or horses.
How, you ask, can it be so?
When the mind is detached, one's place becomes remote.
I pick chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge,
catch sight of the southern mountain in the distance."
Tao Yuanming (365-427)
This reminds me of my desire to leave digital spaces like social media. I think to myself, “if I quit instagram/tiktok/reddit all of my problems will be solved, the noise will be gone, and I can finally do the thinking that needs to be done!” While I still think that reducing the time we spend in digital spaces is part of the answer to living the good life, I also think that withdrawing from the world doesn’t bring any real lasting peace.
Is this to say one shouldn't withdraw from digital spaces? My perspective is that those spaces are somewhat fake and by rejecting them you don't escape the world but truly reenter it.
I’ve tried and failed many times. The loneliness that comes from complete withdrawal from social media is crushing. The amount of effort it takes to curate your social media presence feels like a job on its own. Until everyone gives up social media and goes outside, anyone would find it kinda lonely. The destruction of third places, in my mind, is a kind of desecration. There are no places near me where I can connect with another person and not have to shell out cash. Sadly, I don’t have an answer for you since here we are, connecting on a digital space.
I find that when I get away, I can hear myself think, and I oddly become more extroverted with the room there is to spread out in. It is a pain to be far away from necessities, so somewhere in the middle is ideal. Forty-five minutes away from a major town on a river by the ocean is where I’d feel like myself. It would most definitely help my writing and my health. The way we live is so strange, so inhumane. Just shared this to notes recently:
“I have met enough people and have experienced enough places that I don’t belong. I’d prefer to hermit, water my garden, and make things.”
I’ve been reading through (admittedly slowly) Thoreau’s 14-volume journal this year. What strikes me about it is that the vast majority of his entries aren’t philosophical, but completely naturalistic. Pages and pages of what flowers are in bloom, what the weather is doing, which birds are singing, etc. So it seems to me that Thoreau was very much in the world with this thinking, as the majority of his thinking seemed to be spent on taking in and categorizing the natural world. I think Thoreau viewed society as a departure from the natural world, so the point of his departure wasn’t to escape from the world, but rather to get in touch with a world that had been escaped (or forgotten or abandoned) by the trappings of society.
All this to say that the old “build a cabin in the woods” trope was only a very small part of what Thoreau did. So it seems that making such a project of the cabin itself would miss the point. What good is a cabin in the woods if you aren’t going to know the woods in which you’ve built your cabin? (Not to mention that the “cabin” he built was about the size of a prison cell and more or less completely exposed to the elements. The cabin was more a necessary inconvenience than his actual project.)
I have for as long as I can remember been tempted by the the call to escape into nature and quiet. When I was a kid I read all of the Julie of the Wolves books by Jean Craighead George. Another one I loved was Island of the Blue Dolphins about a girl who is stranded alone on an island. There was something about the idea of being completely alone that felt so comforting and safe to me. Of course it is a fantasy as even the most die-hard introverts sometimes need people, and even sometimes have to ask (god, no) for (cringe) help (yikes).
Full disclosure: I live in the middle of the Maine woods, now, and it's glorious. I didn't build my own house. I'm not off grid (Thank you broadband initiatives). All my problems didn't go away, but I am less stressed overall, and in a much better mental state to handle problems when they arise. There's a lot of tradeoffs for sure. It's a different lifestyle. Some nights I really would love to be able to get door dash or pizza delivery. Instead I get pizza mind. (sorry.)
The last clause in your first paragraph brings back many New England memories for me. (I lived in Boston and then Connecticut for 6 years.) The worst thing you can do: ask someone for help!
Are there any philosophers who have examined this aspect of the human condition?
Depends on what exactly you mean! Arendt on natality and plurality may be relevant; Emerson on self-reliance provides a little bit of the backdrop for the discussion, too; there are many philosophers in the 19th century who tried to make cases for individualism, but that may take us too far afield.
I also have those desire to move somewhere new. Usually, the urge strengthens as the chaos and noise of life increases. Then I am reminded that often the problems from which I want escape are internal problems and will be waiting for me wherever I settle. There is nothing wrong in running away to something new, something exciting, some kind of new adventure. But if I want to run away from something, I will be better if I face the situation and address the root causes.
Cal Newport’s writing states something similar to Sertillanges. Newport argues in Slow Productivity about the need to doing fewer things and be a disciplined scheduler. Now that he has becomes more financially successful he rents office space to facilitate his deep thinking and writing. He has, in effect, created a cabin in the city. It helps immensely that he has a supportive wife to care for their children during the day and he has reliable staff for his day job.
I had forgotten many of the books you mentioned but I distinctly remember having the same wilderness kick as a kid. Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain are classics. You're right to warn against this temping escapism. There's a great, popular YouTube video on this topic - The Answer is Not a Hut in the Woods.
Really liked this piece. I am interested to know if you’ve seen a difference in yourself over time when it comes to retreating to your inner citadel. For myself, when I was younger (20s, early 30s) it was much easier for me to get there regardless of the external world/situation. I could find a string of thought and allow that to carry me inward. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed it is harder. I’ve been trying to reflect upon whether this is because I am naturally thinking deeper or on harder subjects or if it is because of aging/more commitments/responsibility, or a combination of both.
I think age has made this easier but circumstances have made it harder.
Absolutely loved "My Side of the Mountain" when I was a kid in the early 90's, but man did it fill my head up with some ideas. The climax was when my dad found me in a patch of woods on a rainy night about 20 yards from the house, huddled under an old tarp and telling him I was trying to get away from it all. I slept better that night after he brought me back in the house than I ever had before.
Anyway, that book was definitely an early "Walden" for me, and years later, I became a lot more logical about getting away from it all, like actually checking my tarps and tents for holes before I went camping. Being outdoors definitely gave me a lot of time to think, and I definitely got some great thoughts completed (i.e. I don't need to do this all the time). These days, I'm happy to be a sojouner in civilized life. As Miller puts it in "Repo Man", "I do my best thinking on the bus."
This is great. Thoreau and many of the books mentioned are among my favorites. I try and go on small retreats from life and the longer they are the more clearly I can think. Spending a week or two in a canoe by yourself can give you a much needed break from outside noise.
I always dream about a house by the sea. Filling the day with writing, reading, and watching the sea. But then, what can I write about when I'm not interacting with others and when I'm so distant from society and their problems. The choice of peace of mind or being aware of your society and time. Difficult. I still wish to have a house by the sea.
You have a cabin within yourself. Go into your soul to find tranquility. This is all you need for peace.
Thanks for sharing. This reminds me of what Jenny Odell wrote in “How to do nothing” where she says that wanting to retreat and hide into the woods is counterproductive in a sense because we can’t truly avoid the problems that society faces. (At least that’s what my memory tells me.) I think withdrawing from “the world of appearances” may be necessary for thinking, but a lot of human advances come from interaction and interchange with other people
I remember running laps through My Side of the Mountain as a young boy. This was a fond reminder of those days.
I live in a very small town, far from any big city, and I have to say that it changes my perspective on life. However, even in a place like here, one can get filled with online noise or unconscious living, so I think it is more about the mindset than the place, as you said. Great piece!