In the inmost "I" my own solitude meets the solitude of every other person in the solitude of God.

 

"The only way to find solitude is by hunger and thirst and sorrow and poverty and desire . . . This is a country whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. You do not find it by traveling but by standing still . . . , for in the inmost 'I' my own solitude meets the solitude of every other person in the solitude of God."

Thomas Merton

Photo: Solitary Ponderosa Pine, with sandstone cliffs behind; Lory State Park, CO; February 13, 2014