Now, this is something that I've made up. I am not a psychologist and certainly not an anthropologist, but I, like many people, have an awareness of others' placement on this line, but first, perhaps we'll take a shot at putting some points on the continuum.
I'll be using the life of Jesus as a template for loneliness. No one in history has run the full gauntlet, so it will look something like this:
Solitude - Testing - Self-Isolation - Cultural Isolation - Familial Isolation - Outcasting - Exile
____I_______I___________I_____________I______________I_______________I_______I____
From left to right, the difficulty of being alone worsens. From Solitude, a purposeful, self-chosen short term event to Exile, an indefinite utter external rejection and abandonment by all. This spectrum allows us to see where we are at various times, what might be occurring spiritually and emotionally and then some opportunities to discuss ways to work through being isolated.
There are many other spots on this continuum that we could label, but to keep things manageable, let's have working definitions from these seven and place Jesus at those moments.
Solitude: Although the dictionary states that solitude is the 'state or situation of being alone,' I think it falls short in the fact that solitude, especially self-chosen, is one that is necessary and functional. There is a reason that Superman went to the Fortress of Solitude and not the Fortress of Isolation. Solitude carries with it a necessary 'aloneness' so that one can find oneself and have some space to understand the future. (Mark 1:35)
Testing: If, when you were in any kind of class, testing was often done solo and separation was necessary. Think back to whatever test, written or oral, and the difficulty of relying on one's own resources to bring about success. In this time of isolation, we get a feeling of who we are and where we are in preparation for the future. (Luke 22:39-46; Luke 4:1-13)
Self-Isolation: This phrase has become a catch phrase over the last months in an attempt to gain control over the spread of the coronavirus. Interestingly, the person in Self-Isolation often is more connected with others because of an internal response of being deprived of communal interaction. (Matthew 14:22-32)
Cultural Isolation: Administered by the community, or the government, one who offends the ruling body, or the power of the corporate is isolated from most aspects of society including clubs, religious institutions, economic opportunities and events. The person isolated by culture might still have the support of family and friends. (Matthew 23)
Familial Isolation: On this part of the spectrum, it is not only the surrounding culture which has rejected the person, but his or her closest relationships. As these relationships break down, the one who has been isolated from family and friends feels abandoned and emotionally shipwrecked on a deserted island. Still, the one isolated may make connections with others who are in the same circumstance. (Mark 3:20-35, 6:1-6)
Outcast: Like a leper, not only is the outcast alone, but only allowed contact in scarcity. Seen as a blemish on society (and is often of the same opinion) the outcast must skirt the edges of human relationships. Scorned and derided, the outcast finds a spiritual, emotional and psychic fence between him/her/other outcasts and the rest of society. (Luke 22:47-62)
Exile: No one chooses exile. It is abject and utter separation from all things and all people. Once one is given the sentence of exile, despair is often experienced. All connections are severed - it is the ultimate expression of loneliness and hopelessness. (Mark 15:33-41)
In the next weeks we'll ponder the ramifications of isolation. We'll ask questions like: Where is God in my loneliness? Even though I am isolated, how can I maintain connection with others? What do I pray for? What don't I pray for?
As we look through some biblical stories, we'll place the episodes on the continuum and ponder what the people are feeling, learning, doing and hoping. Then, perhaps, we may begin to shed some light on what our own 21st century opportunities of isolation offer us.
As of this moment, where are you on the Isolation Spectrum?
3 comments:
Wow Reid! This blog entry was packed!
First off, in the last blog entry you said “Tomorrow we'll start Jacob and his relationship with Esau.” I wasn’t expecting this entry.
Your definitions of self-isolation and solitude made me confused. I don’t see how the two differ. They seem the same to me.
After investigation of the two terms I discovered that if you take the “self” from self-isolation, it makes more sense. I could see that there is indeed a difference between isolation and solitude.
You did not have a definition for self-isolation, but you did say that we were more connected in self-isolation because of “an internal response of being deprived of communal interaction.”
I think this means that in isolation we are longing for connection. Isolation is being cut off. It is unpleasant. Isolation makes you feel lonely. Sometimes we do this to ourselves and sometimes other people do it to us.
Solitude was just as you defined it. It is actively sought after. It is quality time. Solitude is good and rejuvenating. There is no loneliness in solitude. In solitude one has the privilege of connecting with one’s self and with God.
The Bible passages for isolation and solitude do not seem different to me. The isolation passage you referenced was Matthew 14:22-32. This is when Jesus put the disciples on a boat to cross to the other side of the lake. Then he goes up to the mountain to be by himself and pray.
The Bible passage for solitude was Mark 1:35. This is when Jesus got up very early in the morning while it was still dark to find a solitary place to pray.
These seem like the same to me. I don’t see Jesus lonely in the Matthew passage. He’s talking to his Father. He is enjoying his time alone. He is rejuvenated. This is the very image of solitude.
There is a quote I would like to mention here that is fitting. It is from Paul Tillich a German-American philosopher and Lutheran Protestant theologian: “Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.”
My favorite author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor was once asked as a speaker at a church gathering to tell the audience the answer to the question “What is saving your life right now?”
I had fun answering this question for myself.
On to the second half of this blog entry!
I agree with your definition of both outcast and exile. I also see them in the examples of Jesus in the Bible passages you cited.
An outcast has been banished and ostracized. An outcast is a pariah. In Luke 22:47-62, Jesus is being betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter. Definitely outcast.
Exile is at the end of the spectrum. It is the end of the limit. The worst. It is filled with despair and despondency.
Mark 15:33-41 is Jesus’ death on the cross. Forsaken and anguish. Abandonment by God. The same passage is in Matthew 27:45-46.
In Luke 23:44, the sun stopped shining and there was darkness; the curtain in the temple was torn in two.
The Book of God by Walter Wangerin is one of my favorite versions of the Bible. It is written in novel form, but follows the scripture very closely. Here is the text based on Mark 15:33 in the book:
The day is dark with the thick darkness…
It is noon. And now, when the flashes of lightning themselves are extinguish, the earth is utterly black. Darkness an hour - while the fierce wind makes the rain sting like sand on the skin, and no one, no one exist in all the world but Jesus and his wretched body…
Darkness another hour - darkness, coiled and thick, itself a power entoiling him, binding his chest and his heart and his mind. Jesus can neither think nor breathe. He is sunk down in tehom, the great engulfing flood of the dead, the deeps that boil beneath creation. He has been swallowed by chaos. This is the place: it is here that he is dying.
Darkness the third hour - and now he knows obliteration Jesus has been blotted it out of the Book of Life. Not even God is here. “Eli?”
No, not even his Father, whose will he is even now obeying, the Father who has loved him from the beginning, whom he has loved, whom he has called Abba.
“Eli? Eli?”
Where is the father now? Has the Son become so foul that even God cannot look upon him?
It is Jesus of Nazareth who howls out of Sheol. None but him. He can hear the words. They are his own words. He howls them up to heaven: “My God!” he shrieks. “My God, why have you forsaken me?
Silence.
The universe is silenced by that cry.
I have tears at every reading of this!
Tehom and Sheol. Tehom is an unfathomable deep and boundless space. Bottomless. The abyss.
Sheol is considered to be the home of the dead and wicked. It is the dwelling of the dead.
Brings new meaning to exile!
Loneliness and isolation can bring darkness. A void.
1 John 1:5 - “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. “
Darkness is scary. There are monsters, the unknown. Will there be an end!? Where is God in this darkness? Right there beside us. Finding God in the darkness is one of the “ramifications” of isolation. It is a good one. We know how to walk in the dark. We just need a reminder on how to do it. Talking to God in the dark is essential. Pray for a reminder that we are not in control. God has this! Pray for patience and faith that He knows what He is doing. Darkness is not dark to God.
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