Solitude The Educator

Solitude is the single greatest teacher. Solitude teaches a person just how poor they really are. Solitude raises to consciousness that in daily life we as isolated individuals each have limited worth. Solitude makes us aware that without others there is no meaning or fullness to life.

Ironically, this in no way means that you may abandon solitude and its insights. There is no need to force any issues here and go running off to interfere with other's lives. To come to rely on God alone means to come to terms with what it means to be psychologically whole and mentally healthy.

Eighty years ago Donald Winnicott pointed out that mental health could be traced directly back to whether a person had ever been able to be content in their play as a child without making demands on their care giver. To be at peace with oneself while engaged in their own work while in the presence of a loving other set a person on a healthy mental path for the rest of their life.

For those who have ears to hear, this is really the single greatest lesson that solitude has for them throughout the rest of their lives. Solitude becomes a reminder of this even up to the time of their last breath. And this is what can allow us to relax as Christians that we need not force any issues, and that we can wait in peace that in God's own time we will be presented with the people and opportunities to interact with others as God has called us to do and be.