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
Solitude is not escape—it is encounter. It is the sacred space where noise fades and the illusions we cling to are stripped away. Just as Jesus entered the wilderness to face the deep temptations of relevance, spectacle, and power, so too we must enter the quiet to face the false selves we’ve constructed. In solitude, we see how much of our identity is tangled in performance, approval, and control. But more importantly, solitude is where we hear the voice that speaks a better word over us: “You are my beloved.” There, apart from the world’s demands, God becomes not just our refuge, but our refiner. Solitude is not always peaceful—it is the furnace of transformation. In the quiet, we wrestle, we grieve, we let go. But it is also the place of deepest meeting, where the old self dies and the new self is born—not through striving, but through surrender. We don’t enter solitude to fix ourselves, but to be found. To be converted again and again by the One who is patient with our wrestling and generous with His presence. In a world that pulls us in every direction, solitude brings us home—to God, and to who we truly are in Him. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics