Studies on Solitude

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Solitude has a Learning Curve

Author

Keywords

In his excellent book, Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World , Mike Cosper explains the value in persevering through the difficult realities of practicing solitude. ...

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True Relating is Born of Solitude

Author

Sue Monk Kidd

Keywords

I sit in a bright-lit June meadow at the Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. It is early afternoon, and I have been here since morning in what can only be described as an uneasy sol...

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A Call Towards Solitude

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

In this short excerpt from a journal entry by the late priest Henri Nouwen, the author describes the need to make a significant change to his life during a very difficult period in his ministry. Nouwe...

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The Most Radical Discipline

Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 26:38-42

Solitude is the most radical of the disciplines for life in the spirit. In penal institutions, solitary confinement is used to break the strongest of wills. It is capable of this because it excludes i...

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This Place is Enough

Author

Jenny Odell

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 1 John 4:11-12, Philippians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 6:6-8

A simple refusal motivates my argument: refusal to believe that the present time and place, and the people who are here with us, are somehow not enough. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram act li...

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Riding the Monsters in the Wilderness

Author

Annie Dillard

Keywords

Entering the wilderness is a larger metaphor for dealing with our own demons, our own motivations, be they good or bad. In this short excerpt, Annie Dillard shares the value of entering the wilderness...

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Am I Fighting the Right Battle?

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

John 18:36, Ephesians 6:10-12, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Philippians 1:27, Psalm 18:32-34, Psalm 37:5-6

In her book Invitation to Retreat , Ruth Haley Barton shares some of the many insights she has had since she began intentionally taking inattentional retreats to re-connect with God and her own d...

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The Ways to Self-Knowledge

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

“Know yourself” is good advice. But to know ourselves doesn’t mean to analyze ourselves. Sometimes we want to know ourselves as if we were machines that could be taken apart and put back together at w...

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Retreats: Where Overachievers May Struggle the Most

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 19:9–12, Exodus 33:14–16, Isaiah 30:15, Mark 6:31–32, Luke 10:38–42, Psalm 46:10

Another one of the great ironies of retreat is that overachievers tend to approach retreat as a place to get something done. I cannot tell you how many times I have gone on retreat seriously intending...

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St. Anthony, the Great Desert Monk

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 19:21, Isaiah 30:15, Mark 1:35, Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13

St. Anthony, the “father of monks,” is the best guide in our attempt to understand the role of solitude in ministry. Born around 251, Anthony was the son of Egyptian peasants. When he was about eighte...

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The Desert Monk with a Leaky Jug

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 18:21-35, John 8:1-11, Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 7:3-5, 2 Samuel 12:1-13, Galatians 6:1-3

Solitude... keeps us from making judgments about other people’s sins. In this way real forgiveness becomes possible. The following desert story offers a good illustration: A brother . . . committed...

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How God Speaks

Author

Dan Gilliam

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10

While there is a common assumption in church circles that God speaks most frequently and the clearest through singing worship and heart-enlivened sermons, I find the context of speechless tranquility ...

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Finding a Friend in Unexpected Circumstances

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:4-3:24

If you are looking for a story that illustrates humanity's deep-seeded need for relationships, you could do far worse than the 2000 film, Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks. The protagonist, Chuck No...

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Withdrawing to a Lonely Place

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 14:13, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, Matthew 17:1-9, Matthew 26:36-46

In the midst of an exceedingly busy ministry Jesus made a habit of withdrawing to “a lonely place apart” (Matt. 14:13; see also Matt. 4:1-11, Luke 6:12, Matt. 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, M...

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Any Worse Company

Author

Brennan Manning

Keywords

The story is often told of a man who made an appointment with the famous psychologist Carl Jung to get help for chronic depression. Jung told him to reduce his fourteen-hour workday to eight, go direc...

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The Pressures of Modern Life (Written Almost a Century Ago)

Author

Thomas Kelly

Keywords

The problem we face today needs very little time for its statement. Our lives in a modern city grow too complex and overcrowded. Even the necessary obligations which we feel we must meet grow overnigh...

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A National Day of Quiet

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

The fascination with silence took root early in the life of composer John Cage. In 1928, during a speech contest at Los Angeles High School, he argued for the establishment of a national day of quiet....

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Hearing Jesus in Silence

Author

Jim Forest

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 1:35, Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:12, Zephaniah 1:7, Psalm 4:4

One of the early saints who emphasized the place of silence in spiritual life was Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who died a martyr late in the first century. In a letter written shortly before his...

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Your Cell Will Teach You Everything

Author

Thomas Merton

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Matthew 5:5-15, Daniel 3:19-27, Exodus 13:21-22, Mark 1:35-39, Luke 5:16, Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Genesis 32:24-30, Psalm 62:1, Hosea 2:14, Habakkuk 2:1, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Isaiah 26:3

A certain brother went to Abbot Moses in Scete, and asked him for a good word. And the Elder said to him: Go, sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything. An elder said: The monk’s ce...

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Ceaseless Motion and a Sense of Achievement

Author

Thomas Merton

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 17:10, Mark 4:1-41, Mark 4:19, Matthew 13:22, Matthew 13:18-23, Luke 10:25-37

Thomas Merton describes those who never experience the gift of a contemplative life. His explanation for why some people never experience this can be found in his book, New Seeds of Contemplation: [T...

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Prayer: When Words Become Superfluous

Author

Carlo Carretto

Keywords

Prayer is like love. Words pour at first. Then we are more silent and can communicate in monosyllables. In difficulties a gesture is enough, a word, or nothing at all—love is enough. Thus the time com...

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The Church of Silence

Author

Ryan Holiday

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Isaiah 30:15, Habakkuk 2:20, Mark 1:35, Matthew 6:6, Luke 5:15-16, Matthew 14:23, Matthew 6:1-34, Mark 1:35

In downtown Helsinki, there is a small building called the Kamppi Chapel. It’s not a place of worship, strictly speaking, but it’s as quiet as any cathedral. Quieter, in fact, because there are no ech...

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The Hidden Mystery of Jesus’ Ministry

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

In the midst of a busy schedule of activities—healing suffering people, casting out devils, responding to impatient disciples, traveling from town to town, and preaching from synagogue to synagogue—we...

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Who Means the Most to Us

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Ruth 1:16, Proverbs 27:9, Romans 12:15, Job 6:14, Galatians 6:2

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain an...

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Jesus’ Hidden Invitations

Author

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 19:11-13 , Exodus 33:12-14, Isaiah 30:15 , Mark 1:35-38, Luke 5:15-16, Psalm 46:10

Jesus’ actions, in and of themselves, often make no sense unless we see them as responses to some hidden invitation—an invitation received from time spent alone with his Father. When Jesus was interru...

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A Day Away

Author

Elton Trueblood

Keywords

Retreat

One rare but powerful item of discipline is the requirement that the recruit of the company undertake a personal experience of solitude at least once a month. This is patterned consciously on the expe...

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Matt PTA

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 17:17, John 15:13, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Proverbs 22:24-25, John 15:12-14, 1 John 4:7

These days, a common trick people use to remember someone they’ve just met is to save their first name along with the place where they met them—like “Matt PTA,” for example. I recently realized I stil...

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The Topography of Discipline

Author

David Brooks

Keywords

Wilderness

In the wilderness, life is stripped of distractions. It is quiet. The topography demands discipline, simplicity, and fierce attention. Solitude in the wilderness makes irrelevant all the people-pleasi...

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Crash Landing

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Silence

My entry into solitude often feels like the hard landing of an aircraft that this flight attendant humorously describes: “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the ...

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Motivations for Retreat

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Retreat

Another one of the great ironies of retreat is that overachievers tend to approach retreat as a place to get something done. I cannot tell you how many times I have gone on retreat seriously intending...

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