In a lecture lecture delivered to the plebe class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, William Deresiewicz has much to say about solitude and leadership. He also makes a very interesting comment on solitude, intimacy, and friendship. Do we lack intimacy in our hectic lives? As important has human intimacy is, can we have the kind of intimacy described below with God?
". . . solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better. But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship.
Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “the soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude.”
Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself—that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.
Full article appears here: http://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/
". . . solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better. But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship.
Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “the soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude.”
Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself—that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.
Full article appears here: http://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/
So very true! Thanks for your insight Fr. Doug. I once had a boss who had a saying (paraphrasing) that a good leader ought to spend at least 1/3 of their time simply thinking, which includes sharing ideas and bouncing them off one another. It's a cruel irony that we have lost so much connectedness through so many media that were supposed to make communication so much easier.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point and one I need to take to heart and remember. Think more, wonder more, contemplate more, pray more, converse more deeply. . .
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