40 Days: The Productivity of Retreat

You're receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber.
Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe.

November 7, 2013

a project of ServiceSpace

Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit.

- Edward Abbey -

40 Days: The Productivity of Retreat

"When I was a child, I wanted to be a hermit. I can remember in particular a strange background desire I had for some years to live alone in a pine forest. Why a pine forest? I have no real idea. I have never spent much time at all in a real pine forest. But that was where I wanted to be. I could imagine myself dwelling in the dark, dank heart of a pinewood. Life there, I knew, would be more intense, more magical, than life at home. For a time, as a romantic and imaginative child, I entertained the idea that my desire to be surrounded by pines was due to my having been a Viking in a previous life... But beyond the Viking theme, there was something else in here: something about being alone. Wild loneliness, ringing like a bell. A sense of connection to something far greater than me, in a place which is not controlled by my kind, and is not in thrall to us. A sense of smallness, from which can come greatness." This beautiful article shares more about the productivity of retreat. { read more }