Solitude and Communion

Beware of the temptation to embrace one at the other's expense

In an essay published in The Times and later reprinted in the book Prayer and Prophecy, Anglican theologian Kenneth Leech (1939-2015) writes:

Only through discovering our own essential solitude can we truly become a communion.

In the spiritual life, it’s easy to think we can see apparent oppositions: contemplation is opposed to action, images are opposed …