Lonely in the crowd
We come alone in this world and we go away alone, but during our stay however short it may be we associate with several people. The first being our parents then relatives then friends then spouse then children….
What if we decide not to associate with anyone! Is it possible.
Do we know a single person, who led his life not being associated with any one in this world, off course this is a stupid question to ask, how can anyone know some one who has not been associated to anyone in this world.
Associations lead to a formation of society, and we have to live in this society, and if we chose not to associate, we are out of the society.
So relationships becomes a price that we pay, to receive the benefits of the society. But once again I ask myself, is relationship really such a burden or is it something we enjoy.
Is relationship a need without which we cannot survive?
Relationships arise from emotions both positive as well as negative. We make friends out of love and affection, we make enemies out of anger and hatred (enmity is a relationship too!). Now, until and unless a person is mentally abnormal he will have emotions at every instant of time and with emotions arise relationships.
We divide the world as our friends and enemies.
Both of them, sometimes we make and sometimes they are created on their own.
Dealing with friends, whom do we define as our friend, if I search on Google for definition of a friend I will get more than a million views with several beautiful quotes pertaining to friendship.
Friendship as I perceive is a treasure, I may have several acquaintances whom I call friends, but they might be associated with me in a mere give and take relationship. Can I get a person from whom I do not want anything and neither does he or she want anything in return from me.
Such a thought challenges the basic existence of life. In ecology relationship is divided into following categories (Source: Wikipedia)
- Neutralism: It is the relationship between two species which interact but do not affect each other. It describes interactions where the fitness of one species has absolutely no effect whatsoever on that of the other. True neutralism is extremely unlikely or even impossible to prove.
- Amensalism: A relationship in which a product of one organism has a negative effect on another organism. It is specifically a population interaction in which one organism is harmed, while the other is unaffected, and not benefited.
- Competition:It is an interaction between organisms or species, in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food, water, and territory) used by both is required.
- Antagonism: In antagonistic interactions one species benefits at the expense of another. Predation is an example of antagonism.
- Ecological facilitation
- Commensalism: It benefits one organism and the other organism is neither benefited nor harmed. It occurs when one organism takes benefits by interacting with another organism by which the host organism is not affected.
- Mutualism: It is an interaction between two or more species, where species derive a mutual benefit. Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation.
Now the type of friendship I described above will come under the category of neutralism, which is not possible biologically, and any other relationship is a give and take relationship.
So that means there is no relationship which exists in this world where either one is not benefited from another, and what is wrong with it? As I mentioned earlier, relationship is a price that we pay to gain the benefits of a society.
It means that even if I am with several friends, there is no one who will entertain me if I am not of any use to him/her, and why should they, will I entertain someone without any reason at all?
That means it is not the emotions which create a relation, it is the need that creates a relation, emotion is secondary which only strengthens or weakens a relation.
So no matter how large a crowd we may be in, no matter how happy we may seem to be in the crowd, but the truth is that everyone is lonely in the crowd!
pranavspeaks 