The power of solitude
Lessons from Michael O' Brien and a picture from my travel
If you’re new around here, welcome to Wisdom Wednesdays Thursday - where I share wisdom from history’s greatest minds.
This week we’re looking at Michael O’Brien’s The Lighthouse. O’Brien is an iconographer, painter and writer. He’s the author of many bestselling novels.
My friend, Fr. Allan, suggested this book (Thanks!). I hardly read fiction - something I want to remedy this year - so this book was a good change of pace.
I was deeply moved by The Lighthouse, especially by the protagonist’s actions at the end of the book - as I suspect many others were too. If you haven’t read the book, do that first. But if you don’t mind spoilers, then listen to the episode.
Lessons from The Lighthouse
Extended time in silence is the prerequisite for coming face-to-face with Absolute Reality. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t have any words to describe it. It’s like an awakeness in the world.
Only in solitude can we grasp the obvious truth that life without others is meaningless. About a quarter mile farther along, he stopped by the side of the road, sat down on the grass, and put his face in his hands. Unable to explain to himself why he was so overcome with emotion, he dried his eyes, got up, and continued on his way.
Love calls us to humilty. A price that many of us don’t want to pay. For instinctively he knew that any abiding love would have a cost.
When you truly understand your enemy, you cannot help but love them. Yet even as he fought the tormenters, he understood them, for he knew that their violence was against themselves. And after a time, as he grew in strength, they left him alone. “I will be different”
You never delude yourself into thinking wrong is right. You’re sinking and your head is full o’ darkness, but you keep saying to yourself, ‘This is right; this is good.’ But you know deep inside yourself that wrong isn’t right and right isn’t wrong, so you make yourself blinder, do more evil because evil was done to you and life owes you.
I was in Montreal this week and forgot to schedule the weekly wisdom post hence why Wisdom Wednesday is coming out on Thursday!
But here’s a photo from my visit to Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal, the closest replica of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
I love beautiful architecture because it expresses timeless principles of harmony, classical proportions, and ornamentation.
For most of human history, the pinnacle of architecture has often been religious buildings, as they were expressions of our highest ideals, aspirations, and values. These structures were ambitious in scale and craftsmanship, all designed to evoke awe and transcendence in the devotees.
This is true for the Sanātana Dharma religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.), Islam, Christianity, ancient Greece etc. So I was excited to visit Montreal because it has a lot of incredible churches.
We managed to get both kids to sleep during our visit to the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral (I’m carrying the older one on my back, and my wife’s carrying the younger one). This meant we could slowly walk through the whole church, and appreciate it all.
I recommend visiting Montreal for the churches.
Till next week,
Peace!
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