This is one of my conslusions, which I came up to some time in the past. The more I try to analyze lives of people around me as well as lives of well-known people, I always end up with the same thought.
Human brain is a very interesting mechanism. It sure can do something totally outstanding or something totally terrifying. What I'd like to talk about today is how human brain can develop itself in isolation.
I know what being alone for a long period of time really is. Even though I have never been completely isolated from other human beings, I know quite well how loneliness feels. What I also believe to be true is the time of my loneliness to be the most precious time I've ever had. Let me explain myself.
Human brain has a lot of data about the environment a human being lives in. Most of the time, this data is collected in a form of recollections, that is, visual or audio information about what happened some time in the past. Our brains have no problem going to some distant even in our lives on demand. One will have no problems recollecting what happened and how it happened. So, our brains have all this data, but unfortunately, most of that data is not processed. In fact, it sits in our brains in its raw form, which is definitely useful for just recollection, but not too useful for anything else. In order to actually get value from this raw data, it must be processed. Unfortunately, human brain is very often overloaded with more and more data coming in. And that is why it doesn't have time to actually process any previously collected data. That's why I believe that it is very useful to give your brain a chance to process and analyze it.
Let's take a life of an average human being as an example. The brain of that person has recollections from childhood, from adolescence and adulthood. All this time the brain has been collecting all this data about events that happened to that person or events that he was observing. Like I mentioned in one of my previous articles, most humans prefer going the easy route in everything, including brain activity. Since the process of collecting data is much easier than actually analyzing it, most human beings prefer to never give their brains a chance to process the data. It is much easier to watch TV or go somewhere where something is happening(source of new data), than to isolate brain from any new data and go back and analyze old data.
That's where the whole idea about "human being is a part of society" comes from. It is nothing but the easiest way. However humans, which go this easy route all their lives are almost guaranteed to stay average in their development at best. In Tibet monks who were trying to reach nirvana(state of great inner peace) would voluntarily escape interactions with other humans as well as the whole world for 3 or more years. All this time they would spend in some isolated place where they would do nothing but meditate. Miyamoto Musashi, who is considered as the greatest samurai and the best swordsman of all times, spent 3 years of his life in isolation, reading books and meditating. There are many more examples in history, where great people actually became great because they gave their minds a chance for development. It can especially be clearly seen in the lives of famous writers. Dostoevsky, for example, was sentenced to death and almost killed by a firing squad, but his death sentence was later changed into exile. While being in exile in a prison camp, he was isolated from the whole world, but it helped him in becoming one of the greatest writers of all times.
Let me get back to my original idea. Giving your brain a chance to analyze the data is essential for personal development. It doesn't have to be as extreme as in the examples I've stated above, but it must happen. Only by actually thinking and re-thinking can one reach deeper and wider level of personal development. Our brains have plenty of data already, all we need to do is to give our brains a chance to process it. It is the only way for us to actually fully understand life, or at least make a decent attempt in understanding it. It is also the only way to break away from being the average in respect to self-development.
