Of Seclusion

In Casablanca Rick is told that isolation is no longer a practical policy. Yet seclusion is by no means unacceptable, as long as it serves him well.

Certainly there are truly some misanthropes, who keep a deeply rooted abomination toward society, and enjoy the felicity in full retirement. Hermits seclude themselves from mortality, so as to contemplate over eternity, as if the mortal world were not part of God’s creation. But the more he refrains himself, the stronger the stirring beast is in his heart; just as Frollo cries in the opera Notre-Dame de Paris:

Belle

Est-ce le diable qui s'est incarné en elle

Pour détourner mes yeux du Dieu éternel?

Qui a mis dans mon être ce désir charnel

Pour m'empêcher de regarder vers le Ciel?

As for the ambitious crusaders, there are two major sorts of anchorites: those who win and retire, and those who fail and retreat. Though the former are not few, the latter are more, as there is no runner-up on the battlefield. A temporary leave is but to heal his wound; a permanent absence is either for a conspicuous scar, or after the dawn of wisdom, or in other words, his enlightenment, or both. Truly these losers have their respective defects, but those self-secluded conquerors fuel more criticism for their arrogance, as if they were truly so as follows:

The world needs me, so it lets me be;

I needed the world not, so it I forgot.

But solitude is not something to be rejected always; on the contrary, he will succeed who is a good master of solitude. A true gentleman shall behave himself with even more prudence in solitude, which is a touchstone of his soul. Solitude serves for relaxation, for reflection, for observation, and for dissimulation. As for relaxation, it is not a rare case; as long as the restless world is no longer a fountain of fun, but a hotbed of fatigue. Just like the contrary case of abstention, the harder he reaches out, the deeper he is in solitude, as solitude is a swamp; therein struggles only make things worse. Certainly he will eventually be worn down if he holds his position in society; but he should also beware that such full protection from all kinds of challenges dwindles his hands, and feeds his arrogance, if the door is close for too long. It is time for him to return when he is reluctant to leave, even with no further zest of ease. As for reflection, in a letter Zhu Ge Liang told his son:

Keep your mind in peace, and try your temper;

Run your life with simplicity, and foster your virtues.

Only the eyes that seek no fame or wealth,

Can see their destination;

Only the hearts that rest in peace and ease,

Can reach their distant ends.

Seclusion serves the wanderers in this wilderness as well as hermits; hermits expect too much from it and consequently go to extremes, while more leeway is left for the secular. Make a virtue of necessity, and follow its winding and even back-and-forth course, so that due awe is paid to Heaven, and as well to Hell. And for observation; outsiders see most of the game. On the one hand, he veils his own existence so as to leave the observed as he is; on the other hand, this seclusion severs his redundant connections with the world, so that his mind stands upon the uncommanded peak of truth, and is thus above the clouds. But this is still an art for the weaker souls, and certainly it is best to keep his sight through the mist; for abstention is but a drought, while the seeds remain. He can see the truth in the distance, but it still depends on his character whether he’ll behave well in the proximity to temptations and desires. And lastly for dissimulation; as Bacon said, it is but a weaker kind of art. But it truly works for the weak: sometimes it is better to be inconspicuous, when simulation invites trouble; or to be seemingly blind, when the scene is intended for his eyes.

2011-3-19