The End of Solitude

I read a fascinating article the other day in The Chronicle of Higher Education written by William Deresiewicz entitled, "The End of Solitude."

Some excerpts:
"Young people today seem to have no desire for solitude, have never heard of it, can't imagine why it would be worth having. In fact, their use of technology — or to be fair, our use of technology — seems to involve a constant effort to stave off the possibility of solitude, a continuous attempt, as we sit alone at our computers, to maintain the imaginative presence of others."

"To remember this, to hold oneself apart from society, is to begin to think one's way beyond it. Solitude, Emerson said, 'is to genius the stern friend.' 'He who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from traveling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions.' One must protect oneself from the momentum of intellectual and moral consensus — especially, Emerson added, during youth."

"But no real excellence, personal or social, artistic, philosophical, scientific or moral, can arise without solitude. 'The saint and poet seek privacy,' Emerson said, '"to ends the most public and universal.' We are back to the seer, seeking signposts for the future in splendid isolation."

Deresiewicz makes many valid points, but I disagree with his conclusion. You can appreciate solitude and integrate it into your life without forsaking community completely. We don’t all need to move to Walden Pond. In the Christian life, we are called to both solitude and community.