Solitude
And by it we enter solitude, in which also we lose loneliness.
Only discord can come of the attempt to share solitude.
True solitude is found in wild places, where one is without human obligation.
One’s inner voices become audible. One feels the attraction of one’s most
intimate sources.
In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives. The more coherent one
becomes within oneself as a creature, the more fully one enters into
the communion of all creatures.
Wendell Berry (1977/90)
Loss
On loss as necessary to change.
Loneliness Solitude Wholeness: a progression from desolation to joy. A well trodden path which seems to form a spine for our lives: concepts often adduced as we wend our way on inner
journeys.
Solitude, loneliness and communion are constant aspects of our evolving lives.
Solitude is pivotal. Pointing one way to isolation and implosion; and the other way to self knowledge, communion and integration. Berry links this cross roads to
wild places;
On the need for places where we can regain lost roots.
to
silence,
Silence as absence of the noise in our heads.
and undemanding presence.
This is Section V of Berry’s poem Healing reprinted on page 11 of his book What are People For? Counterpoint, Berkeley.
The tree could be seen on the road near Tweedsmuir in southern Scotland. The picture is a little misleading as the tree actually had a small companion which has been ‘subtracted’, but it seems so connected to the clouds that it fits the bill, rather in the same way as we still respect Thoreau for his solitude even as we learn that his mother did his washing, and gatherings in his house regularly numbered 14 people from the local town less than two miles away.
Above, hovering on blue introduces a link: click to go, move away to stay.
Saturday 15th April 2023
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