Solitude
Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There he was tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be relevant (“turn stones into loaves”), to be spectacular (“throw yourself down”), and to be powerful (“I will give you all these kingdoms”). There he affirmed God as the only source of his identity. (“You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.”)
Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great counter-the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self … Solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather, it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and the new Woman occurs.
—Henri J. M. Nouwen
The Way of the Heart
So often we see in the Gospels occasions where our Lord stepped away from the crowds, getting away from the noise and distractions of his ministry, and retreating to solitude and silence in order to hear from the Father. How often (and desperately) our souls need this quiet and still repose! Nouwen calls solitude “a furnace of transformation.” That’s a strange choice of words, and quite honestly doesn’t sound very inviting. But the transforming work of the Spirit in our lives is a refining fire. It is not precious metals of our souls that His love burns away but the dross. This is the way of the heart after God. –DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics