Tag Archives: Solitude

June 4, 2020 · 11:41 am

Solitude,Silence and Recollection

Physical solitude, exterior silence and real recollection are all morally necessary for anyone who wants to lead a contemplative life, but like everything else in creation they are nothing more than a means to an end, and if we do not understand the end we will make a wrong use of the means.

We did not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them; we do not leave them in order to have nothing more to do with them, but to find out the way to do them the most good.

~~~Thomas Merton (New Seeds of Contemplation)

Many times in our lives we find ourselves caught in turmoil, and all we seem to be able to do is react. I believe that the underlying reason for reactionary thinking is that we never have taken the time to be alone with God. This alone time with God gives us a perspective that we can never find in any other place. Merton reminds us that silence, solitude and recollection are morally necessary to living a life that is joined with God. When we do so, we can be of greater service to the world. Doing the most good has the prerequisite of finding unity with God. Too many lay and clergy attempt to deal with the world through the means of the world. They are usually angry, utter failures who are only venting to the world in the world’s own language. I lack answers for the great dilemmas of the world, but I have some suggestions about solitude, silence, and recollection.

Solitude is a scary word that we have all come to know from one experience or another. Most times of solitude are forced upon us by some outside circumstance such as a broken relationship, sickness or even a global pandemic, but God-centered solitude is voluntary. It is a solitude that we go into to seek the face of God. Most of us do not have gobs of time for solitude, so let us begin with 15 minutes to an hour of purposeful solitude each day.

Silence is boring in a world that demands noise. The purpose of silence for the Christian is to hear the “voice” of God. When we are silent, we are open receptacles of the words of God. His words are crowded out by the white noise of day to day living. As we practice silence our ears are open to His gentle nudging. That nudging leads to words and wisdom beyond our imagination.

Recollection is painful because it requires us to examine our selves for the good and the bad. It is not until we can face the reality of our failures that we can win the real victories that God wants to give us. Take time every day to recollect your day, from the eyes of God, and you will be surprised where it takes you.

Solitude, silence, and recollection can help us to march on to the highpoint of the Christian life. Through these simple practices we find the means to be the light of the world.

Prayer

Lord, Help me to see the necessity of taking time to be in solitude, silence, and recollection every day. Assist me to find the time necessary for these practices. I trust that you will use my practices for not only my benefit but the benefit of all creation. I ask you this day to allow me to grow in such a way that I will be pleasing to you in all that I do.

Amen

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Filed under Midweek Thought

Tagged as Silence, Solitude, Thomas Merton

April 29, 2015 · 7:35 am

Finding God

Many people living secluded lives on the mountain have perished by living like people in the world. It is better to live in a crowd and want to live a solitary life than to live a solitary life but all the time be longing for company.

—-Amma Matrona

Many people yearn for a place apart, our own little corner of the cosmos where we can discover our true selves and touch the hand of God. Our first inclination is to “get away” to a place of solitude and surely God would be there. The wise desert mother tells us that solitude is first and foremost a matter of heart. Many people have sought to escape only to find that they are trapped by their own fallen nature no matter where they find themselves.

We all seek our Creator and feel that if we could just be relieved of the pressures, bothers and interferences of everyday life we would find Him. Not so says Amma Matrona. Solitude is a state of mind that begins long before we escape to our desert. The real key is to empty ourselves and allow that void to be filled by God. No amount of social interaction or physical isolation can bring us close to God. This is achieved as a matter of heart.

Is anger a sin? (rector42.wordpress.com)

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Filed under Desert Mothers, Monasticism, Solitude

Tagged as Anxiety, Desert Mothers, Solitude

February 24, 2014 · 10:43 am

Silence and Solitude

Thomas Merton is a sage of the modern contemplative and mystic world. He offers us some sound guidance for our spiritual pathways. He addresses silence and solitude and their impact on our development as whole human beings.

The world of men has forgotten the joys of silence, the peace of solitude which is necessary, to some extent, for the fullness of human living. Not all men are called to be hermits, but all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally. When that inner voice is not heard, when man cannot attain to the spiritual peace that comes from being perfectly at one with his own true self, his life is always miserable and exhausting. For he cannot go on happily for long unless he is in contact with the springs of spiritual life which are hidden in the depths of his own soul. If man is constantly exiled from his own home, locked out of his own spiritual solitude, he ceases to be a true person. He no longer lives as a man. He becomes a kind of automaton, living without joy because he has lost his spontaneity. He is no longer moved from within, but only from outside himself.

——Thomas Merton

The joy of silence and the peace of solitude are missing links in American society. Twenty first century America is searching for its soul and looking in all the wrong places. Merton calls for us to be in silence and solitude so that we might hear the inner voice. There are few among us that would not admit that all of God’s creatures are looking for spiritual peace. Such a peace is very illusive in our society. We find the ever increasing number of people who identify as spiritual but not religious. That very label is a deep interior cry for union with our inner selves. Somehow they have failed to hear the inner voice and therefore, suffer from the agony of separation from the springs of spiritual life that wait them.

Merton acknowledges the impossibility of living as a hermit as the answer for the bulk of society. He does, however, strongly urge us to discover our inner selves. He calls our inner self our “home,” and implies that we are locking ourselves out of our own homes. In this act of exile, we cease to be a true person and become some kind of automated robot that merely functions from day to day.

Let us begin today to heed the advice of this modern day sage, and seek silence and solitude whenever and wherever it presents itself.

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Filed under Choice, Devotional Quotes, Silence, Thomas Merton

Tagged as inner voice, Silence. Meditation, Solitude, spiritual peace, Thomas Merton

March 4, 2013 · 2:51 pm

Solitude

Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.

——Thomas Merton