Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Solitude

It seemed almost serendipitous that while driving around the area, I was listening to ABC Radio National.  At the time, the announcers were talking about a German philosopher, Heidegger and I had a mini epiphany while listening.  Apparently he owned a small property up in the remote forests of Germany, having chickens, etc and when asked "why go somewhere so lonely ?", he quipped about it not being lonely at all, the loneliest places where to be found in the City,  He craved solitude, not loneliness.  I had for the longest time though it must be loneliness I was searching for and then realised it wasn't, what my soul was craving was solitude.

This concept of solitude over loneliness also hit home when watching the movie Into the Wild where near the end he makes a note in his book about "Happiness is only real if shared".  Coming to understand this also affected me profoundly.

Looking back, the time I felt truly at peace was camping in the middle of the Simpson Desert with a good friend, for of all the places on land, the desert is one true place you can find solitude.  There is nothing except the song of the desert.  This photo, taken when out there, is a poignant reminder of that.


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