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| Clamdigger by Edward Hopper |
If we lose our capacity for solitude, our ability to be alone with ourselves, then we lose our very ability to think. We risk getting caught up in the crowd. We risk being swept away by what everybody else does and believes in – no longer able, in the cage of thoughtless conformity, to distinguish ‘right from wrong, beautiful from ugly’.
Solitude is not only a state of mind essential to the development of an individual’s consciousness – and conscience – but also a practice that prepares one for participation in social and political life. Before we can keep company with others, we must first learn to keep company with ourselves.
Hannah Arendt
