Instead of running away from our loneliness and trying to forget or deny it, we have to protect it and turn it into a fruitful solitude. We must have persistent effort to enter into desert of our loneliness. It is possible to move from restless senses to the restful spirit, from the outward-reaching cravings to the inward-reaching search, from the fearful clinging to the fearless play. We may start to sense that in midst of our sadness there is joy, that in the midst of our fears there is peace, that in the midst of our greediness there is possibility of compassion and that indeed in the midst of our irking loneliness we can find the beginnings of a quiet solitude.
Reactionary approach to life to the external stimuli of the world makes us very busy and usually very tired as a result. The loneliness of solitude leads to quick, often spastic, reactions which make us prisoners of our constantly changing world. But in solitude of heart we can listen to the events of the hour, the day and the year and slowly “formulate”, give form to, a response that is really our own.
The solitude of the heart is no longer pulled apart by the most divergent stimuli of the surrounding world but is able to perceive and understand this world from a quiet inner center. Thus it is not dependent on physical isolation.
-Henry Nouwen-
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