Threads of Fair Isle
Fertile Solitude & Loneliness “All of humanity’s problems,” the French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654, “stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Or for that matter, on Britain’s most remote inhabited island. Fertile solitude is the basic unit of a full and contented life. The line between solitude and loneliness can be thin, but there is a difference. Loneliness is difficult to confess; difficult too to categorize. I have no such difficulty confessing solitude here on Fair Isle. What does it feel like to be lonely? It feels like being hungry: like being hungry when everyone around you is readying for a feast. Fertile solitude, however, is learning to enjoy your own company. More than that, it is a developmental achievement, on the road to knowing thyself. The best things in life happen to you when you’re alone and despite the camaraderie and the spirit of cooperation, for...