Solitude
This theme runs through several big questions. Here are the ones where it plays out.
The questions that illuminate it
Relation to othersBelonging
Where does our belonging lie first: with our own community, or with humanity as a whole?
Favouring our own gives us roots but can shut the door on the stranger; opening to all enlarges the heart but risks belonging nowhere. To decide is to say whom we owe something to first, when near and distant loyalties come into conflict.
Relation to oneselfInteriority
Should we examine our inner life, or fulfill ourselves first and foremost through action?
Turning inward sheds light on who we are, but can slide into rumination far from the world; throwing oneself into action accomplishes much, but risks dodging the question of who is acting, and for what. To take a position is to say where the self is truly found: in the return to oneself, or in what one does.