Some Quotes

I promised some quotes from these books I am reading because I am getting so much out of them:

Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen:

He speaks about the spiritual life and what he calls its 3 poles that we vacillate between:
1. Loneliness and solitude
2. Hostility and hospitality
3. Illusions and prayer

These quotes are from the first part:

"When we have no project to finish, no friend to visit, no book to read, no television to watch or no record to play, and when we are left all alone by ourselves we are brought so close to the revelation of our basic human aloneness and are so afraid of experiencing an all-pervasive sense of loneliness that we will do anything to get busy again and continue the game which makes us believe that everything is fine after all."

"By running away from our loneliness and by trying to distract ourselves with people and special experiences, we do not realistically deal with our human predicament. We are in danger of becoming unhappy people suffering from many unsatisfied cravings and tortured by desires and expectations that never can be fulfilled." because

"No friend or lover, no husband or wife, no community or commune will be able to put to rest our deepest cravings for unity and wholeness...Friendship and love cannot develop in the form of an anxious clinging to each other."

"To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude...Do not run, but be quiet and silent. Listen attentively to your own struggle."

Stay tuned for more on solitude or read the book!