Is it wrong of me...?

Question

....to want to move out in to the middle of nowhere and live apart from society? At the risk of sounding like a nay-sayer I think society is slowly falling apart and I really just want to get out, live my own way without interruptions or daily news of more bombings, wars, street violence and intolerance.

I've tried my best to do as much good as I can but it is like trying to hold back the tide.

What do you think? Serious answers only please.

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi. I don't know the answer to your question, but I know some things that you could think about that could help you answer it for yourself.

Some people are called to live a monastic life. This is not so that they may escape that which they find to be objectionable, but so that they may live in contemplation of the Lord. People of faith understand that the impulse to flee society is sometimes a desire to flee problems and postpone dealing with them. People of faith know that removing oneself from society does not remove the problem, since oneself is part of the problem.

You are part of society. This means that you contribute to it. Has your contribution been 100% good, 100% of the time? If it hasn't, then you are familiar with why and how people fail. Escaping others' failures will not permit you to escape your own, and may indeed make it so that you are not challenged to grow and change, since a transient difficulty--dealing with other people--will have been removed, but the root problem won't have been removed.

If you have unrest and imperfection in your own soul, you will carry it with you wherever you escape to. The disappointment you feel on account of others' actions may diminish the longer you are separated from other people, but chances are high that the disappointment you feel with life will not diminish. This will be because you will still have an unreconciled life. A desire to pin the problems of the world on others show this lack of reconciliation. It is easier to point fingers and say, "You're the problem," and harder to look in the mirror and say, "I'm the problem."

If you know God at all, chances are that you know, too, that one human being cannot hold back any tide. No matter what one does, there will be many around who are living in delusion and sin, thereby creating all manner of difficulties--violence, deceit, betrayal, criminal actions, and so forth. The solution is not to flee these difficulties but to realize one's own impotence in their face, and seek strength, mercy, and guidance from the one who conquered sin. With divine aid, the problems of the world do not seem so large and overwhelming. We are told to expect them, and we do, indeed, come to expect them. And with our attention focused on how we are imperfect and how we fail, and our attention focused on a transforming life through God's grace and mercy, we are then better able to effortlessly contribute good to this world, without being attached to the outcome of our efforts. That is, we come to practice goodness for goodness' sake alone, and not in order to change everything and everyone we come into contact with. Meeting life challenges in a spirit of hope and love instead of a spirit of disappointment, apathy, and pointlessness. We come to realize that the only contribution we can make to things like "world peace" is bringing our own lives to peace with God's help. And as we're undergoing this transformation, we realize--quietly, eventually--that this contribution that appears tiny (i.e., one person's development of inner peace) is actually massive. Because the work is massive, and the peace we have, others will begin to seek as well.

Answer 2

I go back and fourth on this all of the time as well. There is a part of me that enjoys working and making a living, my capacity for compassion and people is huge; but I get disillusioned all of the time when I realize that everyone is out for themselves. It hits me like a brick in the face periodically.

It's like everyone got something in their genes that I didn't get, where they are able to do things I could never dream of. And those are the people who "control" things, generally. Sucky. When I get hung up on it, I can really convince myself that I want to say screw everything, I'm building a tree-house in a rain-forest or a hut in the woods and becoming Crazy Wild Animal Lady.

My advice to you is to do what I do. You probably don't hate people ALL of the time, human interaction is pretty great stuff...just crappy at times when over analyzed.

I try to step back and remember not to take myself too seriously. Then I surround myself with the people (sometimes just my pets) that I trust and have nothing negative to say, and I reclaim some semblance of hope that life is alright and that human beings just are really strange creatures.

Then keep going.

Although I still think that ultimately I will work from home out of my cozy home in the Alaskan wilderness, only going to town when I need interaction. Direct contrast to my corporate big city crap that I do now.

Answer 3

I know I feel like that some days too, the closest to peace I got was a can of beer whilst having a hot bath and no kids in the house.......but it's not a good idea, we are created to be around other people. The best remedy is to spend as much time as you can, in doing good things for people. You will soon start to see the difference in life. The only thing is, it seems pointless, at least it did to me, until I met Jesus and now I try to do everything for Him, it actually means something, it's for an eternal goal not just to get a pat on the back here on earth.

Answer 4

Since this is the religion section and there are other answers covering other aspects, I would like to say you seem to have a monastic vocation. But you only seem to. As some friends who know these issues more than I do pointed out, monasticism is bound to fail when the drive is running away from society, instead of running away from society in order to dedicate one's life more fully to God. Someone becoming a monk for the wrong reason cannot succeed, and is even in danger of losing his mind. And besides, by living alone he cannot help others as he could in society. (Good monks just pray for others and their prayers are listened, "bad" monks may even forget to pray for themselves!)
What you can do, though, is to cut off this stream of information that's irritating you. TVs can be a pest. I get my news from a non-news radio, from My Yahoo (I just skim the titles and in the end read only health news) and from an on-line weekly journal that sometimes comments on important events, but is concerned mostly with culture and philosophy. And whenever I find out something shocking, whenever I see or hear about people suffering, I pray for them, and if I know them, I try to help.

Answer 5

Right/wrong...irrelevant.

Unfortunately, many people (like me) have the same thoughts. If we acted on them, we would go to the middle of nowhere and just find each other. I guess I am saying that it is not really possible to opt out.

We have only our lives to try to make a difference. I, as a sixties-change -the- world- eco- love -peace- no war-nik, have not been political enough and realize that I must be political and that we must all be politically engaged to effect changes. Watch for an upsurge of grassroots environmental activism. I think there is one coming.

Answer 6

Maybe it would be a good thing to give you some sapce so that you can think about all the good things in society that you will miss. People are mostly good - but sadly they are often selfish. I travel on public transport and experience their selfish behaviour at first hand every day.
I too have thought of escaping because 'hell is other people' as Jean-Paul sartre said.
Ultimately, though, I would hate to be alone in this world, so try and look for a silver lining every day.

Answer 7

You can live within society nomatter what your level of participation is. Tune your mind to your own frequency.
I believe said 'protracted nervous breakdown' to be simultaneously a product of social evolution and a low point in an otherwise longterm sinusoidal wave of social integrity, which will inevitably turn around at somepoint. Life, eh, what ya gonna do about livin'? There are no answers - only choices.

Answer 8

As you have posted this in the R&S section, I could quote scripture at you 'Do not forsake the gathering of yourselves together as some have the custom'!

But serriously, I can understand your motives, but I would question whether the secllusion you are talking about is actually achievable in our society. Where is 'the middle of nowhere' these days? Do you have the resources to live in isolation?

And could you possibley survive without Yahoo Answers?!

Answer 9

No of course its not wrong and if you can find a place that you can be on your own for a while or for the rest of your life then why not? As an alternative, have you considered Buddisim? Not a relegion but a way of life that might be summed up as 'be happy with yourself and be nice to other people'

Answer 10

First of all, there's no such place like "middle of everywhere". It's ok to move there, IF there really is a place like that. I would like to move there, too. But sadly, there isn't. Where ever we go, we'll still experience hardship, trails, problems, etc. But you know what? The Bible says that even we suffer, where ever we are, we still could enjoy life. Read Matthew 5:3-11. Think about that list-list of how we could be happy. Some may sound ironic but believe me, I've been through that myself. I still suffer hardship, but I'm happy... If you have questions don't hesitate to ask.