on solitude-the end of

William Deresiewicz in the January 30, 2009 issue of The Chronicle Reader takes on the topic of the end of solitude and how that seems to be a defining force of the age.

This is The Connected Age. We have facebook and Live Journal, IM and chat, twittering is rampant and people seem to think that it is good. We are all part of the web. In some ways it is good to be a part of the social network but in some ways it's exhausting. There is literally too much information out there providing static in the brain; it is easier to talk to everyone I know, but harder to listen. I have no need to know that X is brushing her teeth and getting ready to take laundry out of the dryer when I don't see X face to face from one year to the next and I don't really care about her teeth or her laundry.

Man may be a social animal, but solitude has traditionally been a societal value. In particular, the act of being alone has been understood as an essential dimension of religious experience, albeit one restricted to a self-selected few. Through the solitude of rare spirits, the collective renews its relationship with divinity. The prophet and the hermit, the sadhu and the yogi, pursue their vision quests, invite their trances, in desert or forest or cave. For the still, small voice speaks only in silence.

Part of my personal quest is to find the still, small voice. I want to meditate, clearing my brain of cobwebs and my soul of dust. I may not like myself all that much, but I want to have the chance to be with myself. Then maybe I will enjoy being part of the web again.