Her soul-searching Journal of a Solitude offers an illuminating glimpse into her observant mind and generous spirit. In 1972, Sarton, a poet with no husband and no children, lived in self-imposed isolation in a sleepy New England village. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating.” Pablo Picasso believed that “without great solitude, no serious work is possible” while Marcus Aurelius asserted “nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.” Perhaps no other writer has plumbed the soul-stretching depths of solitude with more candor and courage than May Sarton. Henry David Thoreau, who famously sequestered himself on Walden Pond, found solitude restorative and rejuvenating: “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. But no one and nothing can spare us from the frightening fact that- fundamentally- we are alone.ĭespite our terror of loneliness, solitude is vital to leading a rich, contented life. Some of us seek a romantic partner to fill the void of our incomplete soul others of us distract ourselves with endless social obligations and busy schedules still others of us are so desperate to escape our own company that we’ll settle for the most frivolous forms of socializing, be it superficial friendships or meaningless small talk at a bar. Most of us don’t have the capacity to be alone.
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