Into Solitude
How Some of Our Greatest Discoveries Occur in Solitude
We are used to a world caught up in a whirlwind we cannot control. In our “normal” day-to-day lives, we find ourselves reacting to the perpetual chain reactions caused by the events of our day as they scurrilously collide with us, spinning us into the void of space as we fight to control our trajectory. We often feel overcome in this struggle. We feel powerless. The world seems hopeless at times.
And here we are. Reading these words in isolation.
Alone.
Still.
In solitude.
We are experiencing an event that has forced us to separate ourselves from one another. This separation is challenging as we miss those we love and hold dear, as we postpone or cancel plans we were looking forward to, and even halt achievements we indefatigably pursued and hoped to accomplish. This challenge is enough to throw us further into despair on our uncontrollable path as our efforts to muscle for command continues to be futile.
In another light, we are no longer stuck in the whirling eddy of our normal lives — as is if time has stood still. It is in this silence and suspension that creates trepidation, but it is also in our new solitude we come to discover that it is in the completeness of this challenge, its ubiquity, and its prodigiousness, that we share a common bond. We come to realize that this challenge is not one we have come to bear alone, but it is one that is shared amongst all. It is in this wide-spread solitude, that we all are bearing our own challenge, along our own path, in different corners of the world — but we are doing it together.
History has taught us great discoveries can occur in solitude. We reference Sir Issac Newton who left Cambridge during the bubonic plague to seek refuge at his childhood farm in Woolsthorpe. It was here in his isolation, unshackled from the linear thinking and rigid constraints of academia, that he was given the freedom to think differently. A number of accounts from Newton give credit to this solitude for some of the foundations that would lead him to develop indefinitesmial calculus, create the science of motion, and discover gravity.
Even in spiritual teachings we learn of great discoveries in solitude. After a life pursued for knightly glory, Ignatius of Loyola was bedridden after a cannonball had shattered his leg during the Battle of Pamplona in the sixteenth century. It was in the isolation of his hospital bed that he was able to contemplate and reflect on his purpose — a purpose inspired by the lives of the saints. This contemplation is what radically changed the life of St. Ignatius from chivalrous glory to humble spiritual service, and called him to create a new approach to share God’s love through Ignatian Spirituality and the Jesuit order. This new spiritual bridge focused on finding the joy of God’s love all around us, meeting each other where they are at, and sharing love where it was most difficult and needed the most — On the margins of society, to the sick, the poor, and to all.
Even in nature, we learn that the greatest discoveries occur in isolation and solitude. New species are created in a process called Speciation where organisms, such as birds, are given the freedoms of their solitude to iterate from generation-to-generation into uniquely different species. Charles Darwin’s study of Galapagos island finches shows how birds diverged and evolved into new species based on the uniquenesses of their isolation, unperturbed from other externalities. What are often essential ingredients for nature to anew itself is often solitude and patience.
In a world that tends to be incessantly in motion and without rest, we rarely give ourselves the permission to commit ourselves to the solitude that allows us to discover new things. Things that unmoore us to discover the distant lands of our boundless imagination, things that are right in front of us that are overlooked by our blinding hubris, or even things that are deep within our soul’s abyss that we have been circumspect to explore.
We can develop the discipline to be reflective in our everyday life, but it is uniquely rare for us to be unexpectedly called into solitude, without warning, into our own Ignatian Experience. It is even more aberrant when the world and all of its people are called into solitude together at the same time universally. We have always thought of great discovery being afforded to those that are extraordinary, but we live in a time, disguised as a challenge, that has given the ordinary person the greatest opportunity to explore, think radically, and discover. We have seen a world where a handful of brave discoverers can change the trajectory of our lives. Imagine what kind of world we can create if every single one of us on this earth is brave enough to lean into the contemplations, reflections, and explorations of our own solitude.
Like in musical harmony, the dissonance of solitude can create suspense. It is in this dissonance that we are flooded with trepidation, but it is the tension of this dissonance that pulls us into resolution. Harmony can be created if we simply follow where the music takes us. The real question is: Will we avoid it? Or will we lean into it?
What kind of world would you like to create?
