Solitude and Interior Freedom
Monday of the Second Week of Lent – March 2, 2015
Amma Syncletica said, “There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his or her own thoughts.”
[Benedicta Ward, SLG, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 234.]
The spiritual practice of solitude offers us space to live more fully into our connection with God, apart from concern for how we appear to other people. In this sense, solitude provides a setting in which we can interact freely with God and begin to discern the purpose for which we were created. We, then, are able to come to some sense of our core identity apart from what other people say about us, think about us, or tell us we are.
The Desert Fathers and Mothers recognized that it is possible for us to be alone, yet not truly be in solitude. In contemporary culture, we can be apart from physical contact with people, but still be very connected to others by email, Twitter, Facebook, and text. Even if unplugged from electronic and social media, we can be alone but still engaging in thoughts and distractions that keep our attention on other people, on situations, or on world issues. We can also be concerned about how we appear to others.
Amma Syncletica recognized this paradox. A person can be alone in the hills, yet still be mentally engaged with what is happening elsewhere. And another person may be in the middle of a crowded room, yet be alone within himself or herself, not governed by the expectations and norms of others, content to live his/her life with a great deal of interior freedom.
Only with this sense of interior freedom can we truly know ourselves . . . can we know the person God created us to be.
Amma Syncletica said, “There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his or her own thoughts.”
[Benedicta Ward, SLG, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 234.]
The spiritual practice of solitude offers us space to live more fully into our connection with God, apart from concern for how we appear to other people. In this sense, solitude provides a setting in which we can interact freely with God and begin to discern the purpose for which we were created. We, then, are able to come to some sense of our core identity apart from what other people say about us, think about us, or tell us we are.
The Desert Fathers and Mothers recognized that it is possible for us to be alone, yet not truly be in solitude. In contemporary culture, we can be apart from physical contact with people, but still be very connected to others by email, Twitter, Facebook, and text. Even if unplugged from electronic and social media, we can be alone but still engaging in thoughts and distractions that keep our attention on other people, on situations, or on world issues. We can also be concerned about how we appear to others.
Amma Syncletica recognized this paradox. A person can be alone in the hills, yet still be mentally engaged with what is happening elsewhere. And another person may be in the middle of a crowded room, yet be alone within himself or herself, not governed by the expectations and norms of others, content to live his/her life with a great deal of interior freedom.
Only with this sense of interior freedom can we truly know ourselves . . . can we know the person God created us to be.
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