Originally posted on 04/15/2013:
It deludes no1 into thinking he's an "enlightened fellow" making an impact and makes him feel good.
Meanwhile, if he really wanted to make a serious contribution to the "whole" he couldn't be a self-described hermit as that is incongruous to the Real Life action that would be required.
But... this is easy for him to do and feeds his enlightened fellow musings (ego? ) so he knocks himself out.