Question: It is known that people who sought spiritual development strove to be alone, to distance themselves from their familiar surroundings in order to be alone with their thoughts and inner search. History presents a long list of such examples of solitude in search for the meaning of life and truth: the Baal Shem Tov, the Prophet Elijah, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Buddha, and so on. Why is solitude associated with spiritual development?

Answer: Spiritual development is an inner process within a person immersed in himself. It requires solitude so that others do not interfere and a person can delve into himself, begin to feel himself, and speak with himself.

Therefore, solitude is practiced in many methods. Even among scientists and writers it is customary to take a creative retreat and isolate oneself in order to write new books.

It is obvious that if a person wants to concentrate on something, he must be alone with himself and not under the influence of the world, which distracts them with all sorts of meaningless goals. That is why solitude is so useful and accompanies a person in all his important endeavors in life—especially if they wish to create, build, or discover something. This applies not only to spirituality but also to material pursuits.

Spiritual development, naturally, requires even greater inner solitude and concentration of internal forces. A person must feel himself, examine, investigate: Who am I? Why was I created? For what purpose? How am I governed? Who governs me? Am I free or not? How can one become independent?

These are eternal questions that arose long before our generation. People have been asking themselves these questions for thousands of years and are seeking answers. There are many methods besides the science of Kabbalah, each attempting to answer some of these questions. But so far no results are evident. None of these methods has yet been able to offer humanity a solution, an answer to the question about the meaning and purpose of life.

Question: What is meant by the spiritual development that people seek?

Answer: A person wants to know why they live, who controls them, whether it is possible to change their fate, and whether they have freedom of choice. They want to know what will come of this entire difficult life in this world about which it is said: “Not by your own will were you born, not by your own will do you live, and not by your own will will you die.”

Why were we even given such questions? After all, an animal does not ask why it lives. Only a human torments itself with these questions. It turns out that we are the most miserable and insignificant of all beings since we live knowing that there is no meaning in this, and yet we continue to live. Our situation is far worse than that of any animal.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 925 – Inner Solitude,” 11/28/2017

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