For me, solitude is essential to a spiritual life, to peace of mind, to understanding myself, to unleashing the spirits of creativity, to leading life of purpose. Solitude is a precious thing in our world, many people can no longer find it in their lives, they are drowning in messages, data, devices, noise, congestion,  streams of stories from the exterior world.

Solitude is so important to me. It is not about the absence of people or things, it is about reaching the center of my soul and coming to peace with who I am. It is about shedding pain and letting go.

One philosopher wrote that the only way to find solitude is by hunger and thirst and sorrow and poverty and desire, and the man or woman who has found solitude has emptied his soul, almost as if he had died.

I believe that it is in this beautiful loneliness the deepest understanding begins and grows, radioactive seeds that sprout again and again. It is in solitude, beyond all desire, that I can find a fulfillment without limit. There are no boundaries or horizons in my mind. Solitude cleans the spirit.

The deep woods offer solitude for me, the dogs are my silent partners, they walk with me in the quiet, I am enveloped in the precious silence, I can think in a way I can hardly ever think.

It is true that solitude can be found anywhere, it doesn’t have to be in nature, or in deep woods or remote spaces. But there is a mechanism and a process for finding solitude, it relates to space, geography, and isolation from the places where people go to cheat and betray and insult and quarrel with one another.

In the woods, I collect the hurt and wounds of life and feel them wash away.

There can be a room, a basement bench, an attic window where no one can find me or disturb me or even notice me.  There, I cut the cords from the world and set myself free, I release the worry and regret and anger, I loosen the strands of tension and anxiety that so often tether me, by feel, by sight, by sound, to the presence of the outer world.

Once I have found such a place, I accept it, I am content with it, I understand that many things can sometimes take me out of it and away from it. I love it, cherish it, I return to it as soon and as often as I can. It is always with me, always in my head and heart.

I know I will never find this interior beauty of solitude unless I deliver myself from the worries, alarms, resentments and obligations of men, of the business of men. Here, in solitude, there is no cheating or insult, no exploitation of others, no laughing or mocking others with the cheap and false gestures of friendship.  I can see the person I want to be.

I cannot run away from the world, or seek escape from it’s troubles for the sake of it.  That is not peace and it is not solitude. I see solitude as a seed planted in my soul, some call it God, some call it truth, some call it peace. I feel it in the woods.