Solitude means learning to accept our uniqueness – a very terrifying concept, that we are utterly unique in the universe. We have never happened before and we will never be repeated. We are utterly unique. But we can only see that if we can see beyond our ego-bound vision. To see it is to experience an expansion of spirit, that itself can be quite frightening, because to expand means to let go of what we are clinging to. But this is the meaning of solitude. To love ourselves means to love God. It means to experience a deep, inner gratitude for the mystery of our creation, for the mystery that we exist at all, for the mystery that God exists before we do, that we emerge out of the unfathomable mystery of God, of God’s love, that somehow, we are born out of the love of God.

Laurence Freeman OSB