Solitude

I was happy to hear you are embracing your inner hermit. There is much to be gained in this stage of the spiritual journey!! It will not be obvious while you are going through it. Only later will you be able to clearly see the benefits.

For me this was a time when my self-identity became more solid. It ended a time where I spent too much time comparing myself to others. And began a time when I became more comfortable with myself. When I accepted myself, my failures, my weaknesses, my strengths, my more authentic core identity.

I do not know what will happen for you. Your needs are different. Your journey will be different. What is common, … is that this stage of solitude of common in the spiritual journey. So I am rejoicing to see you embracing it. I’m loving how you are trusting yourself and following what you intuitively understand you need. especially because like me you are logically driven. It can be a big fork in your road to follow your instinctive “knowing” of what to do instead of the mental/logical thoughts.

What I do know is that multiple things are possible in the solitude.a different reference of measuring self worth.

-a new level of stillness that increases awareness.

-a new beginning.

-increased connection with source energy.

-a chance to create a new you.

The religious roots of people long ago had a venerated practice of going into the dessert as part of their seeking. The native American Indians sent their youth out for solo overnight journeys to seek their manhood (to become adult members of the tribe).

These traditions all find value in the withdrawal from life. It is a well recognized path to spiritual growth. Why?

Because the looking within changes us. Our own roots of self worth become less dependent on what those outside of us value and more dependent on what we ourselves value.

Because our own vibration becomes more still. It is in that stillness that we can find a more clear connection to source energy. (yes that is a purpose of meditation too).

Because the solitude allows our thoughts to go in a different direction. Becoming untethered from our regular life is needed to escape the monocultural programming we are exposed to everyday.

Because if we want to become different, we must do something different.

Because even being IN the energy of others is programming us. The energy auras people have is big and that effect on us is NOT usually felt. We need to remove ourselves from other peoples energy fields to completely deprogram.

It is said that aura are 26 feet in diameter. I do not know, I do not detect them yet. But you need a big empty place to not be in anyone else’s aura.

Because we need to avoid becoming emotionally triggered. Those triggered emotions drag us back into the old traumas and old ways of thinking. Those are the VERY vibrations/energy/patterns we are trying to escape.

http://www.teachthesoul.com/2012/02/the-monkey-trap/

There was an interesting technique used to catch monkeys. You drill a hole in an object (gourd?) that is too heavy for a monkey to carry. Then you put a banana in it which is a treat for the monkey. The monkey reaches in to grab the banana but cannot pull it back out because it’s hand no longer fits through the opening. The monkey cannot carry the gourd away because it is too heavy. The monkey refuses to let go of the banana and is trapped in that place until some human comes and picks them up. Thus catching the monkey.

We humans are a lot like this. As long as we do not withdraw from life, we too are trying to hold on to the banana. It is only in letting go of the bananas that we are able to be free. There are so many bananas in this life it becomes hard to not be holding onto something. So for many of us there are many retreats into solitude that are necessary to become free of all the bananas we are holding onto.

So the question becomes what are our bananas?

friends?

money?

a peaceful life?

sex?, weed?, food?, adrenaline events (I mean what are peoples addictions)

approval?

attention?

status?

respect?

love?

kindness?

knowing the truth?

Understanding life?

feeling wise?

spiritual insights?

self sacrifice?

being in a relationship?

How do we know when a banana is keeping us from being free?

• When holding onto it hurts ourselves or other people.
• When it does not seem like a choice or option to be able to let go.
• When not being able to let go of it does not seem like a choice or option.

If we feel we cannot let go of something then it has us trapped. When we cannot let go we no longer have free will or choice.

When we hurt ourselves or others because we cannot let go, then holding onto the banana is not useful.

At one point, when we were younger, I am sure that holding onto the banana in someway served our self preservation. For example, I would sacrifice myself & my health to solve computer problems for others in order to get the approval I needed to bolster my own self-worth (and for money to survive).

And at that stage of my life I needed that. I needed my self worth to be high enough so that I was motivated to move forward in my own growth and life. I needed to survive in order to have enough time to grow and become wiser.

I acknowledge that at one point of my life the bananas of self-worth and money became definite traps that I was not able to let go of. What freedoms can I gain by letting go of the need for self worth? What freedoms can I gain by no longer needing money?

I can only speak to the self-worth side. As I have needed less and less external approval I have gained the ability to be more authentically myself. I have gained the ability to set healthy boundaries and do only those activities which I really want to do (those I determine are important to me).

Finding what we need to let go of is only the first step. Actually letting go is the second step. Both of these can be practiced in solitude.

These are the benefits one can gain with being a hermit and or going into solitude.