Item 1563 - Solitude not withdrawl

This item consists of a half-page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘Solitude not withdrawal’ published in the National Catholic Reporter, August 16, 1974, p. 11. In this article Nouwen is continuing his focus on the difference between loneliness and solitude and the importance of solitude as the ‘place’ from which each human being acts. He begins by stating ‘The movement from loneliness to solitude is not a movement of a growing withdrawal but instead a movement toward a deeper engagement on the burning issues of our time’. ‘As long as I am trying to run away from my loneliness I am constantly looking for distraction…’. Nouwen points to the need to be ‘fully aware of my world and very alert so all that is and happens can become part of my constant meditation and can be molded in the center of my solitude into a free and fearless response’. Nouwen suggests finally, that ‘in my solitude, my history no longer can remain a random collection of disconnected incidents and accidents but has to become a constant call for the change of heart and mind’.