Thoreau had three chairs in his cabin by Walden pond:
“One for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”
I wonder are there diminishing returns after two? Surely not in the economy. Since specialization, there are enough machines to require many men for the benefits of scale. Nor in primal tribes; strength in numbers afforded protection to each.
Also the orchestra benefits from a diversity of instrument, and the scientific community from a diversity of opinion—instances, it seems, where the best way to serve the individual is to serve the society, to become a part of something greater.
Why then, of the third chair, does Thoreau say:
“When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up.”
Not random, I think, that Thoreau uses the word ‘economized.’ Diminishing, he might agree, are his returns from visitors beyond three. So sharp, he thought it not worth the space to have a fourth chair.
Because friendship is one thing, and production—scientific, musical, economic, or otherwise—is another.
A relationship is a straight line between two nodes, not a web.
In conversation, for example. With two, always a listener and a speaker. The listener empathic and the speaker expressive. Each speaking in the other’s language. With three, two listeners and a speaker. The speaker averaging his language for the listening two. And the averaging increases with number of listeners.
In lecture at school, the professor averages for a hundred students. The style of teaching increasingly mismatched with any one student’s individual style of learning.
So too with empathy, how to look out to the mass and discern an emotion other than what has been democratically agreed upon? Versus to see the dilation in one pair of eyes.
Keep two chairs, three at most, lest your home become a factory.
This post really got me thinking and now I have a question that I’m hoping you could help me with. I have at least six chairs in my apartment just around my counter alone. I’m very concerned about what this means for me. I’m currently actively looking for a job and maybe this is affecting me negatively? I know that 4 chairs = factory but what about 6 chairs?? I also have an L-shaped sectional and two leather tufted chairs by my tv but I’m afraid to tell people because of what they might think of me? You’re the only one who knows, and thus, this comment must remain anonymous. In an intimate conversation, my friend recently told me she has a futon, which must count for at least three chairs. Should I cut off all contact? I’m worried her negative energy will affect my life journey.
**EDIT: She has two futons and I have severed all ties. I have not been able to perceive any benefits in my academic, social, or spiritual spheres. I have posted all chairs I own onto craigslist for sale, as I could not figure out what 6 barstools, one L shape, and two leather chairs meant for me. 4 chairs=factory, 6C+1L+2LC=????????????
6C+1L+2LC=1ODWSOBCPMTNLCS, where 1ODWSOBCPMTNLCS is one dystopian world so overrun by capitalist profit-maximizing that no love can survive. I hope your chairs sell quickly on Craigslist, otherwise an accidental Fight Club-style apartment explosion would be effective.