Solitude #2

[The solitary] must renounce the blessing of every convenient illusion that absolves him from responsibility when he is untrue to his deepest self and to his inmost truth – the image of God in his own soul. TM, “Notes”

The true solitary does not renounce anything that is basic and human about his relationship to other men.  He is deeply united to them – all the more deeply because he is no longer entranced by marginal concerns. TM, “Notes”

[the solitary] is called to emptiness.  And in this emptiness he does not find points upon which to base a contrast between himself and others.  On the contrary, he realizes, though perhaps confusedly, that he has entered into a solitude that is really shared by everyone. TM, “Notes”

It is not that [the solitary] is solitary while everybody else is social: but that everyone is solitary, in a solitude masked by that symbolism which they use to cheat and counteract their solitariness. TM, “Notes”

What the solitary renounces is not his union with other men, but rather the deceptive fictions and inadequate symbols which tend to take the place of genuine social unity – to produce a façade of apparent unity without really uniting men on a deep level. TM, “Notes”

Man’s loneliness is, in fact, the loneliness of God.  That is why it is such a great thing for a man to discover his solitude and learn to live in it.  For there he finds that he and God are one: that God is alone as he himself is alone.  That God wills to be alone in him.  TM, “Notes”

The contemplation of the Christian solitary is the awareness of the divine mercy transforming and elevating his own emptiness and turning it into the presence of perfect love, perfect fullness. TM, “Notes”

The empty horizons of the solitary life enable us to grow accustomed to a light that is not seen where the mirage of secular pursuits fascinates and deludes our gaze.  TM, “Notes”

Unless one becomes empty and alone, he cannot give himself in love because he does not possess the deep self. TM, “Notes”

the only justification for a life of deliberate solitude is the conviction that it will help you to love not only God but also other men. TM, New Seeds

If you go into the desert merely to get away from people you dislike, you will find neither peace nor solitude; you will only isolate yourself with a tribe of devils. TM, New Seeds

Very often it is the solitary who has the most to say; not that he uses many words, but what he says is new, substantial, unique.  It is his own.  Even though he says very little, he has something to communicate, something personal which he is able to share with others.  He has something real to give because he himself is real.  TM, New Seeds

There is no true solitude except interior solitude.  And interior solitude is not possible for anyone who does not accept his right place in relation to other men. … Solitude is not separation.  TM, New Seeds