“Perhaps love is to give one’s own solitude to others.
For it is the very last thing we have to offer.”
- Clarice Lispector/The Gift
Peace of mind is an oxymoron. When we’re in our mind, we’re caught in the turbulence of thoughts taking us in numerous directions.
The Early Christian mystics and saints knew this, and first insisted on finding the inner rest and quiet necessary to tame the obsessive mind. They initially called their method the prayer of quiet, and is now what we refer to as contemplation.
The Early Christian mystics and saints saw solitude as a place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born.
Solitude is a courageous encounter with our naked and raw self, in the presence of pure love. When external distractions disappear, we find that the greatest distraction from reality and from divine union is our own busy mind and selfish heart.
Solitude, contemplation, is our way of yielding to God’s work of battling for our heart.
Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
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