A PLACE CALLED SOLITUDE

LAKE SUPERIOR

 

Albert Einstein once said, “I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.”  Wish I could talk to him about that; I think we’d have a fascinating discussion and he could also offer me a few pointers.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve found times of solitude reinvigorating and peaceful and necessary.  I’ve also been drawn to writers who share that joy, and along with it, a love of nature and animals.

One of my favorite writers is May Sarton.  I’ll always be grateful to a friend of mine for introducing me to her writings, particularly her journals.  At times when I felt troubled about the direction of my life, I often picked up one of her books and found inspiration and hope, along with the knowledge that every day has its own special joys, no matter how small. She shared stories of many agonizing times in her own life, but through it all, she found peace and acceptance and a new found wisdom.  Of all the authors I’ve read, she speaks to me more than any other.  Some time ago she expressed that “Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.”  My sentiments exactly!  Here are additional quotes about the meaning of solitude.

            “I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”  (Albert Einstein)

            “I have to be alone very often.  I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment.  That’s how I refuel.”  (Audrey Hepburn)

            “The best thinking has been done in solitude.  The worst has been done in turmoil.”  (Thomas Edison)

            “The thoughtful soul to solitude retires.”  (Omar Khayyam)

            “We live in a very tense society.  We are pulled apart . . . and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together . . . I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude.”  (Helen Hayes)

            “I love to be alone.  I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”  (Henry David Thoreau)

            “I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people; that each protects the solitude of the other.”  (Rainer Maria Rilke)

            “In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.”  (Virginia Woolf)

            “Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help.  Gardening is an instrument of grace.”  (May Sarton)

photo by Heinz Richter

 

            “Who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once.”  (poet Robert Browning).

            “One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.”  (Carl Sandburg)

            “Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.”  (Edward Gibbon)

Remembering May Sarton who wrote JOURNAL OF A SOLITUDE:  “A house that does not have one warm, comfy chair in it is soulless.”

 

1890 painting by Frederick Leighton

 

            Reflecting some moments of solitude, I’ve included some photos.