Solitude is the furnace of transformation
Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. ..
Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter–the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self.
–
Henri Nouwen.
(1981)
The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. pg. 7