Posted on by Kurt Bodling

adjusting to silence and solitude

Note:
It can take some time to adjust to being in solitude and silence, just as this writer describes the adjustment period a backpacker or camper needs to break away from the tyranny of the hectic city life. This adjustment period really could argue against taking short silent retreats, only a weekend long or so. It will probably take that long just to settle down and start to empty all the accumulated noise out of your head.

Quote:
“The thoughts that run in people’s heads about being late for work and what to have for dinner and what’s on TV that night, those go away in about four days to two weeks of being in the wilderness,” Douglas said. “Then you develop a more intuitive and emotional communication in your head. You eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you’re tired, and you’re mindful of weather changes.”

Source: The Bangor Daily News, 10 April 2013, an article titled “‘Hermit’ burglar compound littered with batteries, ‘tons and tons’ of propane tanks.” I no longer have the author’s name, but the person quoted here was Michael Douglas, adult programs director at Maine Primitive Skills School based in Augusta, Maine.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

stresses of silent retreats

Note:
A little longer quote for today: Some people hunger for silence and solitude, at least in theory. The Franciscan monastery in Washington, DC offers an opportunity to try it out a day at a time in a small purpose-built hermitage in 4 wooded acres on their city property. It doesn’t always play out as hoped. This gives one some things to think about if you find yourself imagining how great it would be to ‘get away from it all’ for a while. The source profiles 2 women who did short personal silent retreats, and summarizes their difficulties. Some extracts follow:

Quote:
“What do we complain about more these days than the tyranny of constant stimulation? Our attempts to tune out the outside world — the occasional radio-less drive to work, the concerted decision to leave the phone at home for a few hours — are often ineffectual. It has come to this: True solitude is such a rarity in our modern lives that we have to buy it — or, in this case, rent it for $70 a night.

“But it turns out solitude isn’t that simple. Although participation in silent retreats is on the rise, many of those preparing to spend time at the hermitage said they were so unaccustomed to unstructured time alone that they made to-do lists — then feared they were doing “solitude” wrong and scrapped them.

“What is silence? The absence of noise? Achieving inner peace? Knowing yourself? Being able to hover above your own thoughts and observe them without judgment? Halting the constant hunger for accomplishment in a society absorbed with getting ahead in measurable ways, with doing rather than being?

“Silence isn’t the end; it’s the means, experts say. And its absence from our culture isn’t a small thing.

“The challenges posed by silence are well-known to those who study and teach it. Some retreats encourage people to train — to refrain from checking their BlackBerrys for a few hours at a time before coming, for example. Others ease people into silence over a couple of days instead of all at once.”

Source: Boorstein, Michelle. “Silent retreats’ rising popularity poses a challenge: How to handle the quiet.” Washington Post 12 December 2012