Intentional Solitude?

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense to have a primal fear of loneliness. We are safer running in a pack than living in isolation. There is a reason we think the phrase “lone wolf” signifies risky behavior.

We fear loneliness, but we also long for it. Ask any parent of toddlers and they will tell you that their most provocative fantasies include grocery shopping solo or a weekend of bedrest.

Christopher McCandless gave up everything to live alone (read about that in the book Into the Wild) and it killed him. It also turned him into something of a legend. We fear loneliness and obsess over the possibility that we might squeeze out a few minutes each day for ourselves.

I wonder if running from loneliness might be a symptom of a deeper problem. Maybe our terror over our covid-disrupted routines may have more to do with our distractibility and lack of spiritual sturdiness than we would like to admit.

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

Mark 6:32 NIV

Solitude, which inevitably will stir up latent feelings of loneliness, is a spiritual practice that is encouraged by those who have walked the spiritual paths long before we were born. Silence and stillness are equally encouraged as daily spiritual practices.

What better time to test them out?

During this winter of the pandemic, what if...we carved out time for solitude, silence and stillness? Get quiet. Don’t use a guided meditation or play music while you walk. Don’t distract yourself from yourself in any way. Sit in homage to God. Sit as one who waits for a dear friend or lover, eager to hear the car pull down the driveway, the sound of the key rattling in the lock. Sit still and just be you.