Idea-Alone

I came across this quote by Hunter S. Thompson this week, and when I read it the issues I deal with in my artwork immediately came to mind:


""We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of True Romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely -- at least, not all the time -- but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness."  - Hunter S. Thompson 


At first, the statement seems negative or cynical, but once I made it to the last sentence I realized that it should feel inspirational. I often talk about the struggle to fight against that urge to find happiness within others instead of ourselves. I emphasize the importance of  personal space and separation from people who comfort us in order to find strength on our own (even though it might feel like the less desirable thing to do). Being alone is often seen as negative because the natural human condition urges us to find mates and  reproduce, therefore, time spent alone somehow instinctually puts us farther away from this goal.