Taking time off to be alone is empowering

When winter hits the South Pole, the ‘Polar night’ begins. The sun disappears below the horizon for over four months with twenty-four hours of darkness  daily. 

Acclaimed Explorer Richard Byrd chose to spend the winter alone, challenging himself to live in darkness for four and half months, buried beneath the snow in a tiny room that he built. The room temperature dipped 50 degrees below zero. 

Thrice a day, from a trapdoor  he shovelled- off the snow and then recorded the temperature in darkness. 

The world wondered why Richard chose to live in such cold and darkness. He answered in his book, Alone, saying he did it to get away from everything and do some serious thinking. He wrote, “It occurred to me that there was an opportunity that I could choose to live the way I want to; obedient not to the necessities of life but to those imposed by the wind and night and cold and to no man’s law but my own.”

Loneliness is painful but being alone by one’s own choice is empowering. In taking time off to  be alone, we discover our untapped energies, our strengths and frailties, leading us to discover our purpose in life. 

Being alone with God, we launch ourselves  into a life of greater contentment and joy, energised to face even the harsh realities of life. 

After a month of solitude, Richard wrote, “You can live life much more deeply and profoundly when you keep life simple and do not clutter it by clinging to too many things.

His book ends with these beautiful words, “All this happened four years ago. Civilisation has not altered my ideas. I live more simply now and with more peace.”

In the Bible, we see Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist  and Jesus himself among many others taking time-off to be alone. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35). The prophets  and sages often went up the mountains or the wilderness, those silent places, where they communicated with God.  Self-quarantine as often as possible is good, but when coupled with a spiritual focus, we shape-up to understand the deeper meaning of life.

Take time to be alone. God may have an important message, a caution 
or even a special blessing to bestow upon you.