Solitude, nothingness, and silence are ways of being: being alone, being nothing, being silent. They capture elements of existence, not activity; of being, not doing, and point to ways of becoming more human, more whole. It is a great paradox. What seems to limit our self-expression brings us to a deeper expression of self. What appears to confine prepares us for new freedom. What appears like death births life. It is also our great hope: that in our aloneness we meet the Alone, that in our humanity we meet the one who humbled himself even unto death, that in our silence we meet the one who speaks without words as the Word. By surrendering to this solitary encounter, we are taken to the center of ourselves, the world, and the universe where matter and spirit, flesh and soul, I and neighbor beat as "all one" in the heart of the One who lives in us. ~Excerpted from The Power of Solitude, by Annemarie S. Kidder