4 - Social Distancing, Solitude, and the Soul
Social Distancing, Solitude, and the Soul
Epidemics throughout history have had a dual impact on social cohesion. They drive people apart in fear, yet they also bring people together in hope. We know that epidemics force us to discern what is essential for life … essential foods, essential security, essential industries. Yet they also force us to discern essential relationships. The family, or the inner circle, or the bonds of love.
This can be tragic for those who discover that they have no essential relationships than themselves. All other relationships are non-essential to self-preservation. It can be rewarding for others who discover that the true meaning of love is revealed only when the individual is prepared to sacrifice self for another.
Pandemics, however, impact us in yet another way. When the universality, severity, and longevity of an epidemic pushes us to the brink of despair (either by not having anyone or by losing everyone) we are forced to search for another essential relationship that eternal, namely, the relationship of the soul to God. This is when social distancing transitions into solitude. Social chatter falls away, and even earnest dialogue fades away. You see this in the media today during the Covid 19 crisis. Initially the media conveys essential information, but as time goes by all the “essential information” has been communicated and there is nothing more than repetition of the same facts. We expect scientific miracles and a disappointed. In a profound sense, there is nothing more to say.
Yet it is precisely when there is nothing more to say that we become aware that there is something more to be discovered. The experience of “nothingness” is what drives our desire for the eternal. The experience of “non-being” forces us to recognize “being” in its eternal solidity and raw power. There can be no “non-being” without “being”. It is as at the point of living in total shadow that we realise something must cast the shadow. Absolute darkness is only recognizable if there is even the smallest pinprick of light. As the apostle said: You will do well to be attentive to these things, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morningstar rises in your heart.
It is not happenstance that monastic movements and mystical quests have often emerged out of the gravest pandemics. These are only possible once the chatter of living ceases, and even our most intimate human relationships become fragile. We are driven deep into ourselves and far into the universe at the same time. Until know we scoffed at the idea of the soul. “Surely there is nothing more than the ego, and the likes and dislikes of the ego for other egos.” And suddenly we rediscover the soul and its eternal source … or at least the possibility or hope of the soul and its eternal source … just as our inner eye penetrates the darkness to see a distant light.
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Yet realizing the possibility of the soul is one thing; discovering the soul is another. We have been so unused to looking for it, that even when we look, we cannot find it. It is like looking for a familiar object that we have set down somewhere and forgotten. We say to ourselves in frustration: “It’s staring me right in the face!” And when we find the object that has been lost, we scoff not at the existence of the object but at the stupidity of ourselves. It was right there in front of our eyes all along. We look for the soul. We know it must be there. It is right inside our identity as a human being. Yet we cannot see it or describe it. We can only feel its presence.
What we require is concentration. And in order to concentrate all of our faculties to rediscover the soul, we require solitude. Once we have “social distanced” ourselves to the ultimate extent of our existence we find the solitude that is necessary to rediscover the one and only essential relationship.