Reading & the Good Life
Join the conversation! Every Friday at Noon EST, Perennial Meditations readers are welcome to gather for Reading & the Good Life (Register here), a space for connection, contemplation, and conversations on the art of living!
This Friday, we’re concluding our exploration into the practice of solitude through Stephen Batchelor’s book The Art of Solitude. Below, you’ll find a brief meditation on the meaning of solitude, along with a few selected passages from the book we’ll discuss at our next meetup.
What is Solitude?
Solitude is much more than simply being alone. Solitude is not reserved for periods of mere isolation (The Art of Loneliness). Solitude is an art.
In the opening pages of The Art of Solitude, Batchelor writes,
Solitude, like love, is too complex and primal a dimension of human life ever to be captured in a single definition. I don’t intend to ‘explain’ solitude. I seek to disclose its extent and depth by telling the stories of its practitioners.
Interestingly, some are drawn to solitude, while others experience resistance. (e.g., Pascal famously observed, “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”)
