Work in Solitude

One day a person climbed the mountain where a hermit woman was taking refuge who was meditating, and asked her:

-What are you doing in so much loneliness? To which she replied: -I have a lot of work.

-And how can you have so much work? I don't see anything around here ...

-I have to train two hawks and two eagles, calm two rabbits, discipline a snake, motivate a donkey and tame a lion.

-And where are they that I don't see them?

-I have them inside.

The hawks jump on everything that comes their way, good or bad, I have to train them to jump on good things. They are my eyes.

The two eagles with their claws hurt and destroy, I have to teach them not to do damage. They are my hands.

Rabbits want to go where they want, not to face difficult situations, I have to teach them to be calm even if there is suffering, or stumbling. They are my feet.

The donkey is always tired, it is stubborn, it does not want to carry its load many times. It is my body.

The most difficult to tame is the snake. Although she is locked in a strong cage, she is always ready to bite and poison anyone around. I have to discipline her. It is my language.

I also have a lion. Oh ... how proud, vain, he thinks he is the king. I have to tame it. It's my ego.

-As you can see, friend, I have a lot of work. And you, what do you work on?”

Extract of David Vincent's Book

(another perspective od solitude)

Solitude is commonly conceived as an absence of social contact or interaction. This definition admits religious virtuosos on solitary retreats and lonely individuals for whom solitude is an involuntary condition. But in the main this is a negative definition, confining solitude to the far edges of society and rendering it unworthy of much attention.

However, solitude springs to life as a fertile field for inquiry when we consider that during the course of making our daily rounds most people shuttle between conduct with others and conduct on our own. Examples abound. Students complete their homework by themselves, white collar workers complete tasks on their own, retirees work in solitude in their gardens, and in recent years most of us have become solitary electronic flaneurs. Despite this abundance, there are only a handful of accounts of solitary behavior in diverse settings and no historical accounts of how solitary activities have changed since the advent of modernity.