Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet has a strong focus on the importance of solitude. Most of the deep, contemplative periods of thinking I have are a result of conversations with friends or family, or in classes like Humanities or Issues and Answers. Rilke talks a great deal about what solitude can do for a person, and that being alone is necessary if you eventually want to have a unified relationship with another person, because solitude is an essential part of attain a full understanding of yourself.
At this point in my life, attaining an understand of yourself and "finding yourself" is a common goal. Next year, our class will go off to college and people will start to develop personal identities away from their families and friends, but these identities are not very different from what we've grown up with. Next year, I am taking a gap year and traveling to Chile, and Rilke's idea of learning from solitude is something I can utilize. I realized that though I would still grow in college, I have the ability to truly understand myself, my life and my future because of my plans for next year. I know that in Chile I will be forced into situations way outside of my comfort zone and away from the culture and social atmosphere I have been raised in. Because I'll be away from all things familiar to me, I have a chance to figure out what I am like when I am not being influenced by my friends, my country, my family, my school or the media and culture where I live.
When in solitude, we are stripped of everything that we try to hide behind. We have noone to rely on, to copy, or to lie to. When in solitude, the only person you are lying to is yourself, so there is a certain forced truthfulness that comes out of solitary contemplation. I will keep in mind the powers of solitude, and not fear the loneliness or desperation it seems to evoke. I want to focus on learning about who I am outside of the environment I am in, and make sure to stay true to myself.
Photo: tiquetonne2067
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