The Solitude of the Soul

February 2022

Inspired by my recent visit to the recent art exhibition of Tracey Emin and Edvard Munc at The Royal Academy of Arts, entitled 'The Loneliness of the Soul', I reflected on the difference between what we might call 'loneliness' or what I might prefer to call 'solitude' and I wonder how many of us will have had times of a deepening awareness of the 'loneliness' or 'solitude' of our souls during lockdown?

Usually, we think of loneliness as being a lack of emotional, social or family interactions in daily life, which is a more common experience of 'loneliness', particularly heightened for many during the pandemic enforced lockdown. However, the experience of 'solitude' can eventually come to all of us on the spiritual 'inner journey home', in awakening to a more awakened soul-consciousness in everyday life. Usually, our soul-consciousness is unseen/ineffable to the naked eye and therefore an awakened awareness of our higher self is inevitably a deep solitudinous connection with God/Being. As Thomas Merton says so poignantly, 'The realization that the loneliness of the self reflects the loneliness of God yields the conclusion that faithfulness to solitude is fidelity to God. Without fidelity to the true self, a person negates his whole life, which is God, alone in him.'  Thomas Merton, who lived his final years alone in his hermitage, wrote his own 'Thoughts in Solitude': 'A man becomes a solitary at the moment when, no matter what may be his external surroundings, he is suddenly aware of his own inalienable solitude and sees that he will never be anything but solitary.'

Merton describes our soul's solitude, as 'inalienable', which I understand as being 'inseparable' from the spiritual beingness of our deepest soul-selves, which can be experienced as our deepest essential nature. I believe that our deepest spiritual experiences of our soul/self cannot be fully shared with another human being, as the completeness of our soul-spirit connection only arises in the moment-flow of being 'at one' with God's Presence/Spirit. Such direct experience of the immediacy of soul connection feels so complete and whole in itself, arising as a deep sense of contented-contentment, being inseparably 'alone/all-one-with' God as our deepest Being, which is ultimately indescribable.

For me, solitude is an experiential immersion into the depths of our being, one-with God. Yet the spiritual enjoyment of the beingness of our soul's essential solitudinal nature cannot satisfy the emotional needs of our little self in terms of social company or friendship at the level of personality. I believe that this is what Merton means in his use of 'inalienable' in relation to the soul; that our soul is incapable of being alienated from the Ground of Being in God. The company of others, whilst often delightful and much longed for, can never fully satisfy the deepest longing of the soul for connection with God in the deepest depths of our Being. Indeed, one of the Sufi practices is the practice of 'Solitude in Company' and is one of the main principles practiced within the Naqshbandi Order.

In this light, one particular, simple art-work of Tracey Emin entitled 'More Solitude', (a simple canvas with only those words) 'said it all' for me; that when we experience the completeness of our deepest beingness-with-God in the depths of our souls, one with our inner ground of Being, the inner soul-flame that craves 'more solitude' in the sense of 'more depth soul connection' is ignited within our hearts. For those of us who are not called to be hermits, we can then bring the 'solitude of the soul' to the fore in our everyday lives and enjoy our solitude alongside the company of others. As the Sufi's say, 'to be in the world, but not of it'.

– Rev. Jenny Miller

First published in The Inquirer, Issue 8028, 5 February 2022 – www.inquirer.org.uk