We are the land of freedom and liberty. As a politician, you must wrap yourselves in liberty and remind voters of all you’ve done to increase Liberty. Responsibility (the Siamese Twin of Liberty) gets less ink in campaign literature.
Freedom infuses our national spirit, and may be an obsession of patriots, but where does it appear on our daily to-do list? Where does it fit in our waking hours?
I find liberty and freedom in loneliness, as in idle fishing, doodling, or napping when I’m free of obligations, and pesky commitments. More significantly, when I’m lonely (not just lazy), I realize liberty is my opportunity as the author, director, critic, and starring role of a unique life story-my own. I can write my screenplay and play (star in) the leading role. “
Writing or starring in a life story” sounds a bit grandiose, but isn’t that the very role we are compelled to play? If I have the energy, time, and creativity; then loneliness offers me the freedom to work on my life drama. This is a sunshiny thought that has continued for some years. But then it ended on May 2, 2023, when the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy published his depressing Advisory on Loneliness.
His thesis was a downer. It says nothing good about a “starring role” or “a unique life story”. Instead, it equates loneliness to death! I quote bullets from Dr. Murthy’s addvisory: ( in an advisory )
- Living in isolation reduces our chances of survival and social isolation increases the risk of premature mortality by 29%.1
- Poor social relationships, social isolation, and loneliness can increase your risk of heart disease by 29% and risk of stroke by 32%.1
- Smaller social network size is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes and other diabetic complications including heart attacks and kidney disease.
- Among older adults, chronic loneliness and social isolation can increase the risk of dementia by approximately 50%
This is not only a downer but profoundly upsetting to me. Where does it leave us?
LONELINESS = AUTHORING YOUR LIFE
LONELINESS = SIGNIFICANT DEATH RISK
ERGO
CURATING YOUR LIFE = DEATH RISK
More precisely, when you are alone you can examine and creatively ponder where you are going. In addition, when alone, you have some agency over yourself: All good things.
On the other hand, too much solitude, and you become an isolated, sicko, neither constructive nor creative: Maybe even dead!
How can one make a “Happily ever after story” out of this? Is there any conclusion?
How about Iodine and Aristotle?
How so?
If your body has no iodine you die. Have too much iodine, the same result. This was what Aristotle recommended in his Golden Mean: Avoid both absence and excess and focus on the middle ground, so you can live happily ever after. You can be both creative and productive, spending your life in a robust social network, and still be productive.