8
Issue 8
April 11, 2015
I wish Pascal had not been quite so definite. Maybe ‘Many of our problems’ or ‘most of our problems’ but ‘all’ is a stretch. Still, he was on to something. Voluntarily sitting quietly alone for any length of time is difficult, (try it), and in our day seems a waste of time. Yet there are great rewards. Pascal spoke in 1650. The world has changed much since then, but with respect to Pascal’s concern, the problem is essentially the same; sitting quietly alone has benefits, but it is not a popular practice.
Being alone can be bad or good, loneliness or solitude. They are very different, and Pascal was thinking of the latter. Loneliness is imposed upon us; solitude is a choice. Loneliness is wishing others were there; solitude is being grateful that others are not there. Loneliness is a common burden; solitude is a rare privilege; Loneliness is painful; solitude is close to being a blessing. The lonely think about their own self; the solitary think of the world. There is frustration in loneliness; there is satisfaction in solitude. Whatever the situation, there is in loneliness, tension; in solitude, peace.
Loneliness is a common feature of our times, and our mighty electronic age is making it worse. Consider the daily schedules of modern people old and young. Something has to be going on at all times, from planned activities to trivial television. Mere proximity makes no difference, for even when people are together they are often not looking at and talking to each other, but looking at and talking to machines. In a crowd, we are alone, and there is a price to pay.
Solitude is something else. One can, of course, be busy doing something in solitude, and the virtues of solitude as such do not necessarily lead to a better life. Bad people (and we are all a little so) can enjoy solitude and spend the time thinking ill of others. But solitude is more good than bad. Pascal’s 1650 room had no screens, no loudspeakers, no phones. The mind was free to concentrate or roam, to calculate or meditate, to think. And Pascal was very good at that.
