Arclight wrote:For people who consider themselves escapists i would have expected longer posts.
Being concise and accurate is not mututally exclusive to escapism. I have a vivid imagination and can be mentally hyperactive (and I excuse my occasional outbursts by blaming coffee overdose) but that doesn't mean I have to be a stereotypical escapist.
In fact I don't think you
can stereotype an escapist today, since (beyond the fundamental eat/sleep/survive necessities of life) pretty much everyone who enjoys any kind of artform or hobby can be classified as one.
The vast majority of us don't have creative jobs, and we are constrained by both laws and the desire to be socially accepted. This stops us from acting on our imaginations to some extent - so I feel that creativity and imagination are unintentionally repressed in a lot of people these days. As a result of this repression I assume we seek ways of satisfying our creativity and imagination by immersing ourselves in the surreal;
It could be something simple like using fiction or music to block out the real world by immersing you in an alternative one.
It could be something more complex, such as a hobby that is meaningless in the grand scheme of daily/social survival, but which you pour your repressed talent/creativity/emotions into.
Arclight wrote:I have yet to aquire the desire to connect in a meaningful way with the world. To be frank though, i worry about that from time to time.
I wouldn't worry about that too much; I'm no shrink, but that sounds like you are a little depressed because you're not a highly-sociable extrovert. If anything, this world has too many extroverts and we need to shut up and listen to the introverts a bit more. Introverts do more thinking per spoken word, and there's somewhat of a movement towards introverts being socially acceptable. Taking introverts/extroverts to the extreme you have autistic geniuses and celebrity airheads. I know which group of people I'd rather represented humanity in the future, so that is the direction I would hope we move in, as a species.
Is that a long enough reply for you? I'm going home now, to my escapist retreat