solitude and speed

Speed is an obstacle and enemy in our quest for solitude. The sheer speed at which life is thrown at us makes it hard to sustain unbroken conversation with God. We don't have time to contemplate anything! Let me illustrate.

I was driving down I-4 today, listening to a message on the life of David Brainerd, friend of Jonathan Edwards and early missionary to Native Americans. Brainerd struggled with many illnesses of body and soul and eventually died of TB at age 29. The speaker lamented that Brainerd struggled with a bleak outlook on nature, that he seemed blinded (perhaps because of his sufferings) to one of God's antidotes to depression. He never mentioned the beauty of a sunset, a flower, a bird, etc.. Unlike Charles Spurgeon who said:

• To sit long in one posture, pouring over a book, or driving a quill, is in itself a taxing of nature; but add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair, especially in the dim months of fog ... Nature outside his window is calling him to health and beckoning him to joy. He who forgets the humming of the bees among the heather, the cooing of the wood-pigeons in the forest, the song of the birds in the woods, the rippling of rills among the rushes, and the sighing of the wind among the pines, needs not wonder if his heart forgets to sing and his soul grows heavy.

As I was contemplating this I noticed the world blurring past me out my window. I thought, "I wouldn't see a wood-pigeon unless it hit my window!". Unlike Edwards or Spurgeon who went everywhere on foot or horseback, the speed at which we travel blinds us to the beauty of God's creation all around us. If we all had to walk everywhere or travel on horseback, how much more aware of our surroundings and God's presence might we be? We could actually notice a particular leaf on a particular tree. If we didn't have radios, how much more thought would be given to meditation? I'm beginning to understand why my deerstand buddies sit in a tree all day.

This is to say nothing of the speed of information that is available to us over the cable, the satellite, or the internet. We have so much information we can scarcely keep up with it all. And the images come at us fast and furiously. MTV pioneered the assault of the image with ever changing angles and pictures. The rest of the media world has caught up fast. Compare modern action movies with classic films and their sustained screenshots and conventional camera angles. Modern audiences would never put up with this! All this visual, informational, and even travel speed leads to decreased attention spans and a frenetic mental feeding frenzy which undermines sustained thought.

What do we do?

I'm not sure. I do know we need to slow down. Surface for air. Consider the lilies. We need purposeful solitude if only to realize how addicted to speed we are. We need a solid hour (hours?) to decompress enough to realize what we are missing. We seem to want solitude, silence, and sabbath - but are we willing to put up with it? If you really want to get alone with God, get quiet with God, and find rest in God, then you may find this article by Donald Whitney helpful.

So, are you willing to pursue solitude? When? Where? I'd love to get some ideas from you!