Solitude

Discussion Questions:

• What is the difference between loneliness and solitude? Which do you experience more? 

• Why do we need both solitude and community in order to function with spiritual success?

• Why do you think that solitude and silence are closely connected? Are they really inseparable?

• What do you imagine Jesus doing when He went off to be alone? Do You imagine He spent all that time in silence (internal or external)?

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• What is the “sacrifice of fools”? Have you ever been guilty? 

• Have you ever had an experience such as this described by Catherine de Haeck Doherty: “All in me is silent and…I am immersed in the silence of God”? If so, you might want to share it with someone; if not, you might want to ponder the reason for the lack. 

• Have you ever experienced a “dark night of the soul”? 

• I mention five possible steps into solitude. Which one would you find most helpful at this point in your life? 

• What keeps you from solitude? 

• What practical reordering of your life could be done in order to create more space for God? 

• What experience in solitude would you like to have two years from now that you do not presently possess? Would you be willing this week to plan it into your schedule for sometime in the next twenty-four months?

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Initial Application Options:

• Take inventory of daily and weekly schedule and plan intentional times of solitude. Follow one of the five prompts given in the chapter. Some may be ways that can be realized within a week, and others may call for planning further down the road.

• If you haven’t already, combine meditation with solitude. Find a time in solitude and meditate within that solitude. 

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