Solitude

It should go unsaid that the most important part of using solitude as preparation for the possibility of the direct experience of God is to be in solitude. Everything else is secondary.

This is somewhat of an outrageous statement given all of the historical, ascetic actions that humans have made to prepare themselves for this encounter. But it is true.

Solitude is the one element of greatest importance, and everything else is, in very absolute terms, simply pale in comparison. That is not to intimate that ascesis is to be discounted, but that things like fasting and vigils need to be seen both in their correct context and in proper relationship to solitude in order for they themselves to be understood, valued, and practised correctly.