I don't need to make a case for it. I need only
ask you to read their biographies. Any of them. All of them.
Was Jesus lonesome when He spent forty days and forty
nights-alone-in the wilderness? Was Thoreau lonesome
during the years he spent-alone-at Walden Pond? One
of the most fulfilling, rewarding experiences of life is to
be alone, to be still, to listen spiritually ... to meditate.
I promise you won't feel lonesome.
Now let's consider the other physical inactivity
in which you can engage mentally and spiritually when
you are alone: (2) CONTEMPLATION. This is an art,
the joys of which are indescribable. It is the art of thought-
ful attention to almost anything until you "identify" with it
-spiritually become a part of it. Contemplation can include
everything from bird-watching to art appreciation, to just
contemplating the sheer incredibility of the inBnite detail
of the "everyday" things you see outside the window, or
inside the house.
The people who annoy me most are those dull
blobs who sit in airplanes with their faces buried in maga-
zines in the blase attempt to give a sophisticated impres-
sion that this is "just another routine bus ride, all in the
day's work." And now the airplane movie-watchers I Well,
I happen to have Hown on quite a few planes in various
parts of the world, myseH. And every plane trip is an
exhilarating experience! There, hopefully, are clouds, al-
ways different, always changing. Always magniBcent! And
I am in them I In daylight, there is the panorama of the
earth below, with its kaleidoscope of patterns made of
crazy-quilt workings of man and nature. At night, from