In praise of solitude

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Published on: July 5, 2020

Many things have been written about in praise of boredom and idleness, how it fosters new ideas and how it simmers in the unconscious, just in time to emerge at the time of need. In these corona times another aspect has taken front stage – solitude. Here is an interesting book – In Praise of Solitude, by Stephen Bactchelor. Below is a link to an interesting review of this book. A quick excerpt from this review

“..As new as this situation feels, the frustrations it provokes are ancient. The question is how to be alone, and the answer, as Stephen Batchelor suggests in his new book, The Art of Solitude, ultimately has little to do with the place one inhabits or the other people in it. Batchelor considers solitude not as a state of mind, but “as a practice, a way of life — as understood by the Buddha and Montaigne alike.” It is not isolation or alienation, though these are its shadow side. Rather, it is a way of caring for one’s soul, of sheltering it from noise and agitation, of directing it toward its authentic purpose. Batchelor is less interested in defining an ideal form of solitude than in meditating on the ways it can be practiced and exercised, lost and regained.”

 

More of this review here: [The Link]

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