Note: The tension between solitude and community is real and deep. What isn’t necessarily clear to me, though it apparently was to Bonhoeffer, is whether one needs to be in both at the same time. He would say yes, writing here in present tense. In my life I’ve maybe spent much more time in community while yearning for solitude. So I tend to say that I’ve put in my time in community and now can finally be in solitude; and that my life overall has both. Alternatively, I will say that I am in community with the Church writ large over space and time, and that I don’t need to have them physically in my face to experience their community. Anyway here is a famous line from Bonhoeffer on the topic.

Quote:
“Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair. Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.”

Source: Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1954, page 78. (original German pub in 1939)