Friday, June 9, 2017

Solitude and Silence

Eve Baker

"Solitude and silence are hard to find in the modern world, which regards both as aberrations which must be avoided. Yet solitude has never been more sought after, as the growth of the retreat movement shows. Increasingly, people are experiencing an interior call to solitude which, although it was a commonplace in the Middle Ages, is strange to today's religious concerns, with their emphasis on community. The solitary, standing outside these concerns, witnesses to a God who is divinely other and not a commodity to be possessed by the world for its own ends.

“The mystery of God is encountered in silence and solitude. The creative artists make raids into this unknown world of mystery, and return bearing artifacts. Others make solitude their home; these are the contemplatives."

Paths in Solitude*          

(*This little-known book examines various aspects of solitude: solitude and society, the artist as “solitary”, and physical solitude. Part II looks at the historical roots of the solitary life, the monastic path, travelers and wanderers, hermits and institutions. The final part is a guide to the Christian solitary life, the practicalities and the prayer of the solitary.)

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