Why does the mind of geniuses need solitude

There is increasing emphasis on the idea that growing up psychologically consists of surrounding yourself with people, learn to interact at all hours and with all kinds of people, let the verb flow through all kinds of conversations.

Where creativity is required, work is increasingly teamwork, and learning, collaborative. Trades and professions related to loneliness are associated with the mechanical, the monotonous.

However, this idea is misleading. Loneliness is not simply an almost inevitable circumstance in a society in which the traditional family model has lost steam. Above all, loneliness is a source of inspiration and personal growth.

• You may be interested: "Empty Nest Syndrome: when loneliness takes over the home"

Being alone is not a crime

In many countries, introverts, which are those who need to spend more time in non-crowded and uncrowded environments, are highly valued.

In Western countries, however, this kind of personality is viewed with the condescension of one who addresses someone who does not know what is being lost. The normal thing, it seems, is to be surrounded by people practically at all hours. People who, in addition,

interact with us and show their camaraderie or admiration. Going unnoticed or isolating yourself in an informal gathering doesn't count. The superficial charm of psychopaths and narcissists seems to be rewarded.

The few times that people talk about the good of being alone is, almost always, to compare it to the possibility of "being in bad company." But... does the positive side of loneliness really only appear if we compare it to the worst situation that can occur in your absence? The answer is no; lack of company also has psychological aspects that are good by themselves and that, in fact, they have allowed many geniuses to make history.

• You may be interested: "Differences between extroverts, introverts and shy people"

The limitations of the company

There is another way of looking at things. One in which being in company does not have to expand our horizons of creativity and spontaneity or, it can even produce the opposite effect.

Interacting with someone requires adapt to a communication code that limits us. We try to make ourselves understood, and for this we dedicate a part of our attention to controlling the way in which others react. In the same way, one of our main objectives will be to communicate ideas and feelings successfully. Somehow, we bear the responsibility for the other to reach certain conclusions. Even when we lie, we need to turn to common references to be understood.

In the same way, when sharing space with someone we dedicate a good part of our mental processes to making a good impression, even inadvertently. Ultimately, relating to others involves making efforts to bring our ideas to something translatable, even at the cost of subtracting authenticity and nuances.

To talk is to lead our thinking along paths that, in part, have already been thought by many other people for some time back in order to create effective communication codes thanks to which we make ourselves understood in a matter of seconds. Set phrases, metaphors, recurring comparisons... all of this acts as a psychological funnel and biases both us and our interlocutors.

The creative potential of introspection

Solitude, on the other hand, offers almost total freedom. There we are alone, with our own metaphors and ways of understanding life, and we can continue building on those foundations in a much purer way than we would be in the company of someone.

We do not have to be accountable to anyone, as we must not communicate with anyone; that we understand ourselves is enough for us.

In solitude, great ideas appear that we do not have to reject out of shame or because they are not understood at first. If they fit well into our mental schemas, they are already valid. And, if not, many times too.

Perhaps that is why great geniuses like Leonardo DaVinci. Charles Darwin or Friedrich Nietzsche appreciated solitude so much. After all, the greatest intellectual advances are always a renunciation of following the path of thought that others have been marking.

Creating creative revolutions is just that, breaking the mold. Not to please othersBut because the ideas we have had are so powerful that, if we are given a choice between social conventions and them, we decide on the latter. But that can only be done if we respect our thoughts enough to give them some time alone, so that they can develop without social distractions.

Creating great connections

The mind works as a machine for associating ideas; creativity comes when it occurs to us to unite several of those that seem to have less in common with each other. It is clear that for these connections to take place we need to relate to others; among other things, because otherwise we would not have a language with which to articulate abstract ideas.

But, to complete the circle, we also need solitude. In the first place, to rest, and secondly, to cultivate a way of seeing life that is unique and truly ours, through introspection.