Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.- May Sarton
Do not allow yourself to be imprisoned by any affection. Keep your solitude. The day, if it ever comes, when you are given true affection there will be no opposition between interior solitude and friendship, quite the reverse. It is even by this infallible sign that you will recognize it.
- Simone Weil
It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.
- Thomas Merton
Solitude is something you choose. Loneliness is imposed on you by others . . . . We all need periods of solitude, although temperamentally we probably differ in the amount of solitude we need. Some solitude is essential; It gives us time to explore and know ourselves. It is the necessary counterpoint to intimacy, what allows us to have a self worthy of sharing. Solitude gives us a chance to regain perspective. It renews us for the challenges of life.
Not much to say right now. At first, I dreaded my decision to withdraw and worried about being disconnected. Certainly not being able to check my phone and find a couple of text messages through facebook feels weird. There was a sort of digital silence that descended immediately when I deactivated my fb account. Now that I've adjusted back to pre-fb life, however, I find it more welcome than I expected.
My announcement - made only on here and to those individuals I already had plans with - has met with some consternation and a lot of doubt on the wisdom of my actions. As over 24 hours have progressed in my choice, though, I have moved from a vague urging that this is the right thing to do right now to a more concrete purpose. In thinking it over on my drive to work today, I concluded the best term for my action is "embracing solitude".
I can't afford to take a retreat right now, and I don't have the luxury of locking myself in a room somewhere, so this is my next best solution. There is the temptation to squander the extra time I'll have, both in business and laziness, and also the impulse to try to fix everything at once. My first priority, though, is to pray. And then to study. Whatever that leads to is fine. I'd like to hope it will provide some direction or, at the least, some new foundational understanding of myself. But que sera, sera - and that will be good enough. Perhaps even great.
No comments:
Post a Comment