In Harmony With Nature

Isolation is not a bad thing thing, nor should it be looked down upon. Isolation strengthens the self, and without the self you're not that much help to anyone else. There's a documentary in a guy who lived in Alaska for thirty plus years with little to no contact from anyone. He seemed to be in harmony with nature and he wasn't a Sith lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP-3N_00TOk

Well Dick Proenneke didn't have kids to take care of, was retired from working in a society so his money for supplies came from other people, he had to be flown in there and flown out... He also spent 30 years doing nothing for anybody but himself. You could call this the ultimate example of "selfishness leads to isolation" but it would pale in comparison to a bank CEO.

As for him living in harmony with nature, yeah he probably did a good job. People could learn a lot from his video and book.

I don't know that isolation is all bad or all good. I think it's important to reach a balance between yourself and others so that you don't become overly selfish or overly selfless. Maybe Dick wanted others to join him but they refused, I don't know. Maybe this was his dream and his life wouldn't have been fulfilled unless he did it so he waited until retirement and after the kids were gone and there were no more responsibilities.

That's a great way to tie everything together.
Ego/Self->Selfishness->Isolation->Suffering->Anger->Hate->Dark Side
Replace -> with "leads to" and you get some Jedi stuff like Ego leads to Selfishness, Selfishness leads to Isolation...etc

So maybe the "harmony with nature" thing is a symptom that we need an ego-check, lol.

Does Ego really lead to selfishness? :huh: Does Isolation really lead to Suffering? :huh:

Thank you Proteus for pointing this out. I didn't get to thank you before.

Proteus wrote: "Naturally", pain and suffering is something we dislike and tend to want to avoid. How much of that tendency is simply ego-based, I don't know. But I guess, on the foundational level of reality, pain and suffering is still an equally valid and necessary part of the harmony of nature, since, I don't really know how I would know what comfort and happiness is, without the existence of pain and suffering.

Even animals and plants have ego. Flowers will turn towards the sun and other animals go places they like eat things they like and do things they enjoy. The difference between humans is that we can calculate. We'll suffer now for more pleasure later. This isn't evil until we become greedy or put ourselves as MOST important. (not more important) To clarify if you cant take care of your self you're not taking care of any one else. You're more important but you're not MOST important. I hope that makes sense.

In Civilization we've placed ourselves as MOST important and thats one more reason we're out of harmony with nature.