Solitude: The Value and Perception
Solitude is a societal value that holds the society together, where from the religious view its seen as the self-selected few with own restrictions. From the religious view of solitude, it also faced a change as other values with democratization of the attributes. With the rise of modernism, solitude has been taken as the harsher part of the individuals or the society that defines isolation. For instance, taking oneself photo and storing it without sharing with others, what meaning does it have to an individual or to a group of people? Having an idea and dying with it, does it help or is it a waste of some ideas? The answer is two way, share own idea and loose it to innovators or stay with the idea and pray for the door to open for other opportunities to share it out.
The Meaning of Solitude in Individual Development
Wozniak met several people in Menlo Park who discussed computer design, he never made any attempt to open a big office to be cheered up by people on his idea, nor did he allow the idea to cross-pollinate in any of the means available but his work process on the first PC came out striking many, and it was an individual development (Susan 2012-p. 4). He did almost all of his work in the cubicle from morning all the way to nightfall without consulting any on the idea but dealing with books, magazines, manuals and other resources that were available to develop his idea. He made everything, and the final result was of a shock to himself taking into consideration that he was all alone when this happened explains the meaning of solitude.
The Power of Solitude in Creativity and Innovation
Almost all the successful people in the world are always shy of what they are thinking, but the result is still positive. Artists work best alone, and the success is determined by the output that they give. One thinks and releases an idea that will ever change the world. Many fail to understand the difference between being in solitude and being bored. Being in a boredom state means idle whereas the meaning of loneliness is far much different. Postmodern clicks on some waves which in reality move around the power of being oneself. The problem arises when youths can't believe in their strengths and the need of them keeping what they have until it matures up. The youth believe that communication is meant to be passed to the world and not to continue to oneself which is a miscalculated move. Once a person thinks of any positive thing, they rush to social media and pour the idea to the world instead of cultivating it to mature stage to assist the society, but rather it ends up on the airs.
Beyond Society: The Significance of Solitude
Holding oneself aside from the society is the beginning of thinking beyond the society itself. It's essential to protect oneself from the open criticism from others who think they are intellectually above the one's thought. God is always alone and is a perfect being bit on the devil side; the devil thinks to be right in a group of his followers. Solitude is not a universal gift to all but to select few who work towards a positive change.
The Connection Between Solitude and Creativity
Most of the creative people are always socially self-confident introverts. They are self-dependent and have an individualistic characteristic which associates them with children who are always shy and work in solitude. Though submissive that creative people are always introverts, not all introverts are creative in this case. But the best that can be borrowed by the society is that introverts usually work individually and independently and thus solitude is their crucial driver of the innovation that is evident.
The Debate on Independence vs. Collaboration
The question that remains looming on the mind of the society is to whether they should teach all their kids to work independently or to ensure that no idea that is owned by the employer will ever share with their secretaries on what they are thinking of. Most of the schools teach students to work together and share what they know. Teamwork is always taken to be the best route to success is it from the schools but also in the working environment. In research, it confirmed that "91 percent of high-level managers believe that teams are the key to success." (P. 6). But why should the managers propose such a statement yet each has different strengths as compared to the group work where the idea is shared uniformly.
The Balance of Solitude and Cooperation
A significant percentage of the society believes in the power of cooperation as a small portion thinks of self-directed motive. In schools most teachers take up to 40% of their work is done using group work. The age of the teachers is also a point of concern as the young teachers mostly prefer small group learning as compared to the older teachers "Among younger teachers, small-group learning is even more popular, suggesting that the trend will continue for some time to come."(p. 7). According to Williams on page 8 indicates that learning in groups helps in the development of great leadership compared to independent learning technique.
The Role of Sharing and Self-Understanding
Solitude is much essential, but it won't work all alone without certain cooperation. People can meet and discuss different ideas within a short period, and this will lead to the development of other essential skills in the individuals (Susan 2012-p. 20). With sharing one can lose what they have been used to believe oneself to others who have used the same skill. As per the great known psychologist Ericsson, he was a pro in playing chess and thought that none would win the game until one time when things changed, and he was overthrown by one of the classmates and was under siege. Through this scenario, Ericsson thought of the source of winning of the friend and led to the conclusion that great achievers don't show off what they can do.
The Success of Individual Efforts
Wozniak loved his work and worked on most of his inventions individually. With the early design of the calculator, it led to the development of the Apple PC. With his sharing a donut and brainwave without any judgment on the appearance of the colleagues who got to his room but instead focused on his engineering work and finally it led to real work done. One can live in a society full of criticism but self-understanding and avoiding making any adverse judgments towards them will show up regarding essential innovations in the society. Solitude is essential but should not be associated with boredom (William, 2009- p. 6).
Work cited
Susan, C. When Collaboration Kills Creativity: The Rise of the New Groupthink and the Power of Working Alone. 2012: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2012/01/27/susan-cain-when-collaboration-kills-creativity
Williams, D. The End of Solitude. The chronicles review, 2009 http://chronicle.com/article/the-end-of-solitude/3708.
