A Return to the Self

"Solitude is not to subject oneself to sensor deprivation, which can lead to hallucinations. One needs the stimulation of the senses and the intellect."

Is solitude necessary for this?

What if solitude is a person's habit? Would they experience similar benefit from more socialization?

I doubt it's as neatly reciprocal as all that. Much of this is really just a matter of personal preferences and habits. The Romantic image of the tortured artist/thinker retreating from society at large, often with a generally dishevelled appearance and assuming the posture of a misunderstood hero, is an irresistible one; it's one of the most enduring legacies of 19th-century intellectual culture, especially in philosophy.

Here is an expression one reader made to my OP on another forum.

Don't give me solitude
Because I'll have to try
To dig among my thoughts
To find a reason why.
Please busy me with work.
If there's time let me drink.
Give me philosophy
So I don't really think.
My Blackberry I need,
My cell phone and TV,
To occupy my mind.
Alone I can not be.

Inspired by coberst's thread "Return to self"

Ah... I see. Sensory deprivation is your proposal, after all!

Coberst,

I tend to agree with the expression made by your other reader.
A lot of people keep themselves very occupied with other people or technology because they simply don't want to be left alone with their
thoughts.

This might cause their thinking to run a little deep and this is too serious or too scary (especially for a lot of fellow Americans.)

Solitude is good for the soul and I believe a lot of people would benefit
from having a little more of it!