The historical problem of transmitting the thought of ancient sages has been that they wrote very little or nothing at all. How to transmit to new generations the nuances and living spirit of not merely ideas but a whole manner of living? Today the problem is compounded. There are abundant sources of information but no particular focus on living itself, which is preempted by increasingly more virulent technology, culture, and economics. No matter how much we may know, our need to survive seems to overtake the life changes we need or want to pursue.
Solitude helps us by simplifying ourselves of the accretions of society and culture. Solitude can give us a glimpse of what our daily lives ought to be, plain and without contrivance. We only need a glimpse, a moment — the famous flash of a lightning strike. Then all our information about ancient wisdom can be absorbable, like the gentle nutrients nourishing a flower.