Humans Are Social Creatures ?

[rush]

The channel has a lot of videos on different meditation practices, where you can be more fulfilled in life

However, doesn't this contradict with the idea humans are social creatures ? And need each other to be fulfilled. How do you reconcile the 2 ?

[Dato95]

I feel like that we all have a certain amount of "sociality charge", socialising make us happy but all of us need also our personal times and spaces. I haven't seen yet that video but I think that meditation can be a great way to get rid of the stress accumulated during the day.

I just started with the "don't judge video", which I found really great.

Peace.

[cirkussmile]

Personally I don't meditate 16hours a day so I still have a lot of time to socialize. If I want to that is! The need for socializing decreases.

[Frogfucius]

When you go on this journey, the need for socializing decreases. There are ways to become fulfilled without socializing. If you need social activity to become fulfilled, then you're really not a happy person. Same thing if you need drugs, excitement, love, etc.

We are animals with basic animalistic needs, but our minds are far more deeper and complex than all other animals. We can find ways to enjoy life 100% without using our chimpanzee minds. No other animal is capable of going on a journey of finding their true selves, so they're stuck living for their basic animalistic needs.

[Andrea Marchetti]

We not only crave for social rewards. We have many needs.
When higher needs start demanding lower needs start loosing their grip.
There is a kind of escalation, for example the search for freedom is higher than the search for socials rewards. And these two will often battle, for example. Or the need for peace for example, for a solid base where our spirits can relax is beyond sociality.
Usually an interest in meditation is not driven by social drives.
We are like a rainbow, don't categorise humans as social animals. That may be true, but it does not comprehend the whole spectrum of being human.

 

[Kevin Dunlop]

The healthy socializing you evolved with is now beyond your scope to experience, for example you have no tribe, no access to the natural world and you dont know anything about it. The socializing you do now is likely full of weird contradictions and hollywood  on auto-pilot. Iam not sure how important it is if you dont work on understanding it and improving it.  If feelings that are frustrating, confusing, surface level, disappointing or problematic come to mind there is much work to be done on how you socialize. New goals, interpretations of what things mean and better communication skills are a good start. Then youll enjoy who you are in the social world alot more.

I personally dont seek out social contact when I dont have to.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Kevin Dunlop

[Donald]

Emile Durkheim coined the term " Homo Duplex " , in the sense that we have a double nature . We strive for our own survival , being " selfish " so to speak but also we want to belong somewhere " groupish " . It doesn't contradict , it makes perfectly sense .

[Tancrede Pouyat]

Yes, we are wired to be social. We need each other to survive. The kind of fulfillment you get from relationships cannot be attained through any other means.

However...

Stephen Covey has this great model : First, we start out dependent, then we become independent, and then we become interdependent. You can't skip steps. You have to become independent before you can go to interdependent. Most people sadly never leave dependence. Because they had dependent parents who did not help them become independent.

In our modern world, we get our survival needs met. Period. And then, we do personal development, and that allows us to grow out of dependence and into independence.

And, when that happens, you don't feel any kind of need to have anything, and you won't ever again. This is what distinguishes dependence from interdependence.

I'm personally turning interdependent right now. I don't feel the need for anything, but I want to have great relationships with other people. You seem to be dependent.

Looking back over it now, I think that the key mindset shift that turned me dependent was that I started focusing on who I was, not what I had.

And the key action step was implementing a daily meditation habit as well as eliminating bad habits.

[abrakamowse]

9 hours ago, rush said:

The channel has a lot of videos on different meditation practices, where you can be more fulfilled in life

However, doesn't this contradict with the idea humans are social creatures ? And need each other to be fulfilled. How do you reconcile the 2 ?

 

Meditate only 30 mins per day and then socialize  23 hours and a half... but you need to sleep 8 hours, so you have 15 hours to socialize.

And you will realize that when you began to practice meditation, you naturally become much more social. There's no problem to reconcile meditation with socialization because they never were antagonistic, one reinforce the other.

[rush]

@Tancrede Pouyat Specifically, how did practicing meditation daily change your mindset ?

[rush]

@Frogfucius hmm thats interesting. Would you say that people who socialize cant truly be happy then ?

[Frogfucius]

4 minutes ago, rush said:

@Frogfucius hmm thats interesting. Would you say that people who socialize cant truly be happy then ?

Not at all. But if you NEED socializing to be happy, then you're not truly happy. The purpose is to remove the need... Even the need to live. It sounds extreme, but you can still want things. But it makes no difference if you have it or not.

[Kevin Dunlop]

My social activity is helping people, its not for me but it yields much more rewarding feelings than doing things for me. I dont want anything so I am then free to ask others how I can be of help to them. Here the level of love I give and recieve is much higher and makes merely owning things as a way of ataining satisfaction seem rediculous and completely silly.