A person isn’t really tested by solitude. Solitude is
beatitude—provided, of course, that it isn’t marred by physical stimulation.
Physical equilibrium, solitude: beatitude. Excitement, distraction,
over-stimulation: the fallen state.
Escape is really only present when the person is genuinely sovereign in midst of the fallen state, not by
merely muting its effects.
The Sufis teach that genuine learning takes place in the
world, thus in the midst of hardship, hence they send disciples on travels.
Travel is hard work. If you can keep yourself centered in that environment, you’ve
got your stuff together; if not, you have a ways to go. A wonderful contrast
comes to me by means of Kathleen Norris’ magical book†. She quotes a saying of
St. Benedict’s that living in a community is asceticism as such. Or as Sartre once
said, “Hell is other people.” The two teachings, in effect, are functionally
identical.
Expanding on this just a little. A great chasm exists
between mere knowledge and experience—and the dubious value of either emerges
when the two are not actually fused. Experience alone is insufficient. It must
be understood. Knowledge by itself, no matter how high or detailed, creates a
false sense of superiority. When knowledge is tested by experience, the sense
of one’s superiority is blown away like a useless bit of litter in strong wind.
A bit more. The body merely experiences—and by body here I
include the whole structure of ordinary being, thus also “states” of mind,
reflexive thought, emotions. And these in turn merely record reactions. The
more dense the stimulus, the more dense the reactions. And to control this in
theory simple input-output system demands an active state of detachment. But
the detachment required isn’t merely “recollection in tranquility” but active presence in the midst of turbulence.
That presence requires a kind of energy; but the hurly-burly consumes it—sucks
the oxygen right out of the system—hence one loses one’s grip of the situation
far too easily. Tough sledding, all of this—or an arduous climb. Tranquil
solitude is but a kind of breathtaking in midst of an unending labor.
---------------
†Dakota: A Spiritual
Geography.
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