Can a man (or woman) be an island?

**Sancho Panza** · 05-24-2012, 07:57 AM

This is a quotation from John Donne (1572-1631). It appears in Devotions upon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes - Meditation XVII, 1624:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

It is a fairly well known passage, particularly the "No man is an island," but is this really true? Is it possible for a man to live in complete isolation amd still be perfectly normal? Obviously during the formative years of any person they are dependent on others, but in a world which is increasingly online, does this requirement continue into adulthood? Theoretically a person could set up a purely online business and order food, pay bills, etc online and have virtually no interpersonal contact, but what would this person become in this situation?

Also, what counts as interpersonal interaction? Does this forum count, or instant messaging services or does it have to be face to face to be truly meaningful?

Lots of questions there I know, but I would be most interested to hear what answers others might have to any or all of them.

**cacian** · 05-24-2012, 08:23 AM

Sorry Sancho my first impression after seeing the thread title was a loud
WHAT!!!!

Okay now I have clicked on the thread I think that my first gate reaction would be to say that one might never know the answer to the question because no one apart from the person involved with the island would ever know.
Since it is a one man affair then I am assuming it would be impossible to know.

On a different note and if one has to take a guess to what would happen then one could always refer to the book Ulysses and go by the story.
The other side of the coin to Ulysse's story would be the The Lord of the Flies, this story has more then enough clues to make one wonder about what might happen if one is ever to be bestowed an island just for themselves.

I think I have given three answers.

**tonywalt** · 05-24-2012, 10:31 AM

What do I get to bring with this island?

**iamnobody** · 05-24-2012, 01:13 PM

Neil Gaiman said it better than I ever could.
From American Gods...
http://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-.../dp/0380789035

"No man, proclaimed Donne, is an island, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other's tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literaly, remember, made into an island) from the tragedy of others, by our island nature, and by the repetative shape and form of the stories. The experience. As unoriginal as any other tale, as unique as ny other other life. Lives are like snowflakes, forming patterns we've seen before, as like one another as peas in a pod (and have you ever looked at peas in a pod? I mean, really looked at them? There's not a chance you'd mistake one for another, after a minute's inspection), but still unique.

Without individuals we see only numbers: a thousand dead, a hundred thousand dead, "casualties may rise to a million." With individual stories, the statistics become people, but even that is a lie, for the people continue to suffer in numbers that themselves are numbing and meaningless. Look, see the child's swollen belly, and the flies that crawl at the corner's of his eyes, his skeletal limbs. Will it make it easier for you to know his name, his age, his dreams, his fears? To see him from the inside? And if it does, are we not doing a disservice to his sister, as she lies in the searing dust beside him, a distorted, distended caricature of a human child? And there, if we feel them, are they now more important to us than a thousand other children touched by the same famine?
We draw our lines around these moments of pain, and remain upon our islands, and tey cannot hurt us. They are covered over with a smooth, safe, nacreous layer to let them slip, pearllike, from our souls without real pain."

In summary: Our islands make life bearable.

**JuniperWoolf** · 05-25-2012, 08:48 AM

There's a trend that they first noticed in Japan recently (last 20 years or so) called Hikikomori in which people isolate themselves in their room, but I don't know if I'd call them "normal." Apparently there are over 3 million of them in Japan though. Here's my favorite part of the wiki article:

Among these are the hikikomori that are now in their 40s and have spent 20 years in isolation, this group is generally referred to as the "first-generation hikikomori," and there is concern about their reintegration into society in what is known as "the 2030 problem," when they are in their 60s and their parents begin to die off.

**Jack of Hearts** · 05-26-2012, 04:08 AM

You can survive physiologically if the conditions are right. You might get inspired to kill yourself though. Humans need other humans for emotional and mental health. Humans need to be physically touched by other humans. Humans are weak. We walk around like we've got our **** handled but we are completely vulnerable and need each other in ways that are not immediately obvious (but intensely necessary). Doesn't matter who you are, you're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

J

**jajdude** · 05-26-2012, 01:53 PM

I guess Robinson Crusoe and the Castaway movie were popular for a reason. One can survive. A tree could be your best friend. Sanity would be affected. Tom Hanks was a bit too sane after his ordeal. There are stories of people doing isolation for months and losing it, even with a radio and things to read. So I guess years would be madness for most. All the books or music won't help enough. But the Internet would, because that is contact. It's great. You know you are talking to real people, family, friends, whoever.

An off topic question somewhat is the purpose of music. It is known we can live without it. Yet it is present all over the world. It must fill something important. I recall a great book by Oliver Sacks. Musicophilia. I think it was called. Couldn't understand all of it as he is a neurologist and uses some hard language. Fascinating though. The importance of music, yet something we can live without.