The phrase, ‘no man is an island’ was coined by the poet John Donne. It means that no one can live in loneliness away from the maddening crowd like an island surrounded by water detached from the mainland.
When God created Adam, the first man in the world, He knew that Adam would be bored with loneliness, so he created a companion called Eve with whom Adam could share all that was created. Looking through religious viewpoint, the statement ‘no man is an island’ is true.
Man lives in this world as community. We all need the services of others to survive and grow in our life. No one can perform all the duties alone. We have doctors who attend to our medical needs; farmers to provide us the food security. Even if a person happens to die, one has to rely on others for the formal funeral procedure.
Even nations, cannot stay aloof from other nations. Desert countries, that are technological advanced, cannot, isolate as self-progressed; because they have to depend on other nations that have excellent climatic conditions and can easily produce food. God has distributed metallic wealth in different quantities at different places so that they depend on each other and live as good neighbours. According to the Ten Commandments a person should love his neighbour as he should love himself. Therefore, it is God’s plan never to remain isolated like an island. So, again, from religious perspective ‘no man is an island’.
Newton discovered that every action has an equal and opposite reaction; and this is true in both the physical domain as well as life in general: what happens to one person at one place happens to everyone at another place also, because human beings are all connected; be they outwardly saints or inwardly hypocrites; we observe this from Covid-19. So, it is factual to say that ‘no man is an island’.
Even political leaders cannot win an election by living in isolation. They require their party’s foot soldiers to roam the streets to provide freebies to voters. Even after winning the election they cannot fly off into the wide-horizon of power to do what they want. The young ones, who hold the key to the future, will peacefully protest if they are unhappy with the policies and decisions of the government; and the power that be, will have to face the music of protest. So, the saying, ‘no man is an island’ is a strong statement.
Even bankers after accepting deposits from the public cannot sit and say that they are self-sufficient and live like an island with the accepted deposit from hoi polloi. They have to find borrowers to lend the money and make a profit; so, they offer service like housing loan, vehicle loans, educational loan and other loans to progress and make profit. No establishment can stay alone; bankers have to depend on depositors and borrowers in order to survive. Again we see the phrase; ‘no man is an island’ is absolutely true.
According to psychologist, people need each other to share both happy and sad moments. Psychologists support the quote.
Man is born to live with others. The more one isolates himself, the more dependent he finds himself on others. No one can live alone ‘as the last man on earth’. It is safe to conclude that ‘no man is an island’ is a universal truth.