✙ why live a life of silence and solitude?

So… why live a life of silence and solitude?

As Christians we are all called to follow Christ and keep His commandments as much as we can. And God will call each and every one of us to the path and the vocation that at any one time is the most suitable for us individually within the context of His (+) plan. If and when we discern, accept, and answer that calling and sincerely try to live it, then each vocation - and in fact: each individual life - over time becomes its own specialisation in justifying eternal life before God (+).

So, within that context: why live a somewhat extreme life (currently: in homelessness) in silence and solitude? The honest and most simple answer to that question is my unexpected encounter with God and His (+) ensuing calling. You can read more about that on this previous page.

But personally I think a more theoretical and theological comprehensive answer, might be this:

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states in par. 405: “Baptism, (…) erases original sin and turns a man back toward God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.”

This means that even though baptism can erase original sin, it cannot and will not restore in us the peace and grace of original holiness that Adam and Eve lost as a consequence of their fall from paradise (see CCC par. 399 - 404). Therefore, all of us (baptised or not) are still faced with an inevitable spiritual battle during our life here on earth. As Saint Thomas Aquinas phrased it: “[after baptism] there still remains the inclination to sin that assails us from within, and also the flesh and the devil which assail us from without”. These battles are forced upon us, whether we like it or not. But using our God-given free will, we can either decide to try and tackle them head-on, or run away.

Unfortunately, lacking clear and experienced real-life guidance, most of us end up doing a little bit of both and often end up mistakenly incorporating buddhist and other types of non-Christian meditation techniques (like mindfulness, transcendental meditation, guided meditations, visualisations, etcetera) to our Christian spiritual armoury. Mistakenly, because similar but more effective God (+) centred prayer and meditation techniques already existed both in the ancient Jewish and later Christian traditions from the very beginning. And these ancient Jewish and Christian meditation techniques are not only more effective, but also safer to practice as they are God-centred (instead of deity attached or ego driven). In the era of the Desert Fathers the general practice, intens study, and therefore the understanding and efficacy of these self-emptying instead of ego driven prayer techniques - like Christian meditation, contemplation, and watchfulness - reached its peak.

However, after that era of the Desert Fathers came to a close, these ancient prayer techniques of Christian meditation and contemplation slowly started to dilute and become less central. Therefore, these ancient prayer techniques were ever less practised, until they reached their current nadir within the mainstream churches of today. This is a real loss, because it’s these ancient prayer techniques that (more than any other prayer forms) foster the attainment of inner-silence and watchfulness through self-emptying from ego-driven habits and from the worldly attachments and anxieties that are often both the causes and consequences of those habits.

 

"This means that even though baptism can erase original sin, it cannot and will not restore in us the peace and grace of original holiness that Adam and Eve lost as a consequence of their fall from paradise. Therefore, all of us (baptised or not) are still faced with an inevitable spiritual battle during our life here on earth. As Saint Thomas Aquinas phrased it: “[after baptism]there still remains the inclination to sin that assails us from within, and also the flesh and the devil which assail us from without”. These battles are forced upon us, whether we like it or not. But using our God-given free will, we can either decide to try and tackle them head-on, or run away"

 

As said, because these ancient prayer techniques of meditation and contemplation help foster more than any other prayer form the attainment of inner-silence and watchfulness through self-emptying from ego-driven habits and from the worldly attachments and anxieties, it is especially with the help of these more effective prayer techniques that the outcome of our personal and daily spiritual battle (when fought deliberately, focused, and well-guided) can in some cases effect God to restore through His (+) grace the peace and original God-centred innocent obedience to God’s will from before the Fall. Or at least, so say (i.a.) the Desert Fathers’ experiences and writings. This battled for (but eventually only God-given) grace of restored original holiness is often referred to as theosis, which is a somewhat exalted word for the very real, direct, and God-given grace of getting to know God (+) through one or more direct personal experiences. This is what the orthodox tradition describes as ‘real theology’, and it is also the threshold and gateway to perfection within our lifetime here on earth.

At its best this spiritual - and very real - daily battle for Christian perfection will lead us first to a stable state of dispassion. And then - who knows - towards a stable state of theosis already during our lifetime. Though successfully reaching - let alone: maintaining, or even increasing - such a state of perfection is in itself not necessary to be granted eternal life after we die, it is nonetheless the goal each Christian should ideally strive for during his or her earthly life. Why?  Because God (+) created us in His own image - i.e. holy - before the Fall, and now - after the Fall - He (+) still wants us to become holy again as He is Holy (see i.a. under the Old Testament Lev. 19:2 and in the New Testament Matthew 5:48).

 

“However, after that era of the Desert Fathers came to a close, these ancient prayer techniques of Christian meditation and contemplation slowly started to dilute and become less central. Therefore, these ancient prayer techniques were ever less practised, until they reached their current nadir within the mainstream churches of today. This is a real loss, because it’s these ancient prayer techniques that (more than any other prayer forms) foster the attainment of inner-silence and watchfulness through self-emptying from ego-driven habits and from the worldly attachments and anxieties that are often both the causes and consequences of those habits."

 

Unfortunately, the road to perfection is not easy nor is it a one way street. For there are many ups and downs, setbacks, and pitfalls along the spiritual path. So, when we find ourselves placed before such a supernatural battle and goal in our personal lives, we cannot and should not ignore 2000 years of history. And that history shows us that this spiritual battle is a very uneven fight indeed that resembles asymmetric warfare when seen from our individual human perspective. And if that is not yet enough to humble us, then it’s good to remember - as many Desert Fathers already rightly foresaw - that in our present time and in the coming generations there will almost be no one anymore who will successfully reach the threshold of Christian perfection - let alone maintain God’s consequential grace of restored holiness - during his or her remaining lifetime here on earth. This means that the most of us will have to fight our personal spiritual battle without the help and guidance of real life spirit-bearing (i.e. deified) elders who can see directly into our souls and who could teach us from their own personal experience. Without this experienced hands-on help, winning the - unavoidable - spiritual battle during our lifetime becomes even harder to accomplish.

 

"Though successfully reaching - let alone: maintaining - such a state of perfection is in itself not necessary to be granted eternal life after we die, it is nonetheless the goal each Christian should ideally strive for during his or her earthly life"

 

But is this battle winnable, and its ultimate goal still attainable? Yes, it is. And a life in silence and solitude dedicated to prayer, meditation, contemplation, watchfulness, study, and work is helpful in progressing in that battle.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

And this is also why I will always appreciate to receive your feedback. Especially - in the spirit of psalm 141:5 - when it is critical or even downright negative. For your honest feedback will help me become a better person, it will help me grow as a Christian, and it will enable me to apologise and make amends to you whenever you may have felt offended unjustifiably because of me.

And if you think that I could maybe help you, in apostle Paul’s words, to fight the good fight, then feel free to reach out through the contact form on the homepage. And if you prefer to find out what others think of me, then you can visit their comments and commentaries on this page.