Black and white

Sung dynasty Chan master Pai-Yun’s simple verses can be the solitary’s signature statement: Where others dwell, I do not dwell.Where others go, I do...

Disengagement

Philip Koch, author of Solitude: A Philosophical Encounter, defines solitude simply as “a time in which experience is disengaged from other people.”...

Trees and columns

The famous tree-sitting of Julia Butterfly Hill has a parallel in the column-sitting of Simon Stylites. Both were motivated not so much by a cultural or group c...