The Power of Escape

There are too many times we think of ourselves alone in our trials, troubles, and life’s situations.

Even when we are in a crowd.

Maybe it’s especially when we are in a crowd! We yearn for attention at the moment, but we also know that our momentary peace can be found when we learn the Power of Escape.

Neil Diamond sings a song, and I’ve enjoyed much of his music over the years, but he uses this phrase that makes me wonder if he’s talking about himself:

“I’ll be what I am. Solitary man.” ~Neil Diamond

In the song, he laments found and lost love, eventually, getting through all the heartbreak of lost opportunity and finding himself alone.

Then I think… he stands on stage with his band to his back and thousands in the audience in front, and I see him suspended between the backdrop and the crowd as he sings his music to himself. Alone. He may thrive from the response of the crowd, but the lights blind his vision of just about everyone and I’m thinking he’s performing for himself, by himself.

Alone in a crowd.

Have you ever taken a test to determine who you are, your strengths, weaknesses, talents, and even your intelligence? Have you ever looked to see if you are an Introvert or an Extrovert?

I’ve taken all these tests and understand myself enough to know that I’m a functioning introvert.

I step out of my solitude and into my extrovert role for the time I need to be around people, but I welcome the calmness of my home space and can hardly wait for the moment that I can escape from “here to there”.

As introverts we often struggle with the overwhelming sensation of crowds, we are often as fearfully punished when we retreat into isolation thinking it is best for us.

When I am pressed by the numbers, I can easily take a few moments away and refresh myself… Even when I’m with the people I want to be with! I’ve learned it generally only takes a few minutes.

When my time gets overwhelmed with the cacophony of noise and the press of people, then my power escape can be simply stepping out to feed the dogs and stand in the dark, staring at the stars, and wrap myself in the quiet.  Or, step outside and simply “collect” myself… Or, take a quick drive and let my subconscious handle some of the stresses of the day.

Research

Born in the late 1500s, a man named John Donne was harassed by misfortune, bad choices, and living in a time of strange reactions to what we accept as normal in today’s world. A cleric, ex-con, writer, father of 12… He lived in a time period of the martyrdom of many who were, and supported, Catholics – even his own brother. As life progresses, he writes many books that were often called Meditations with a sequence number. We know many of his one-liners, and several of them are popularly used.

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” ~Meditation #17 By John Donne From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1623), XVII.

From this one excerpt we find several very popular statements combined: “No man is an island”, “any man’s death diminishes me” and “for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”.

No Man Is An Island

Take the first one and think about it. “No man is an island”… As he continues to expand his thought we find that every man is a piece of the continent. The continent is less of itself as every man separates himself from the whole. The island of man gets washed into the sea and dissolves into something much less secure than the whole it once was.

A person who yearns for solitary existence never sees what they become, but those who watch them slowly ebb away can only wish the solitary person will come back to the whole.

Test Case

A solitary existence is not good. Just ask anyone who has been confined to solitary cell life in prison! There are many articles that describe the psychosis that ensues from those shut away. Consider this study from 1951…

“…but in 1951 researchers at McGill University paid a group of male graduate students to stay in small chambers equipped with only a bed for an experiment on sensory deprivation. They could leave to use the bathroom, but that’s all.  They wore goggles and earphones to limit their sense of sight and hearing, and gloves to limit their sense of touch. The plan was to observe students for six weeks, but not one lasted more than seven days. Nearly every student lost the ability “to think clearly about anything for any length of time,” while several others began to suffer hallucinations.” ~Read PBS Report Here

Of course, prisons use solitary confinement for many reasons, protecting the inmate from the prison population, and as punishment. The same article reports those with any kind of mental illness, or youthful brains still growing, suffer the most.

Here’s my thought today.

Though it is in my heart to live a life far from the jingle jangle of the world around me, and I look for the acreage at the foot of a mountain where I see no other house, I also know that it’s not good to drop into isolation.

I need people. I need family.

Natural and spiritual family! Without them I would be washed away and lost in the deep ocean of life – perhaps ending in a place I could never return from.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth, and finally, Adam was his final product. After a while, God noticed something and spoke of it.

And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone;
I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Genesis 2:18 NKJV

It is not good! The man should not be alone. He needs helpers in his life to make it through to the end! End? What ending? Surely we’ll live forever, right?!!?

So. What’s the biggest ending? That final isolation?

We all deal with it sooner or later.

Example

Recently I visited someone from my world who was in the hospital for some emergency surgery. As I was leaving, a patient in the next room started chatting with me as I walked by. I paused. I realized she was alone and probably lonely. So I stood in the door of her room and we chatted about the weather front that was moving in and could be observed from the window she was sitting by. She seemed so thankful that I would take a few moments of my time to visit…

She was yearning for release from her isolation and needing a Power Escape in the opposite direction!

The kindness of strangers can go a long way to help the unfortunate one who has no one to help them through their trials. I’ve stood at the side of hospital beds as good friends, family, even strangers, slipped into eternity, taking their last breath. It makes me hope that when my time comes someone will be there with me as I pass over.

Too often we forget those in isolation – nursing homes, hospital beds, shut-ins, widows and widowers, those who are ill and face trials for whatever reason. Or, how about the prisoner that is confined to isolation, no matter their crime. Or consider the elderly who are approaching their final years and struggle with daily living.

What Do You Do

If ever there was a ministry for the church to get involved in,
this should be a focus.

For all those in isolation, your giving moment of ministry allows them their Power of Escape, if only for a moment. You bring to them a glimpse of life beyond the walls and bars they find themselves corraled by.

As we approach the ending of life, I think this is probably the saddest part of isolation – to face death and have no one else there to care.

I’m glad I have been there, even if only connected by a digital voice. If we are there for others, you can be sure someone will be there for you!

My better thought today is that I need healthy doses of people and someone who will be there for me during my darkest trial.

No… I’m not anywhere near a point of trial, and while I can, I need to feel a modicum of control on how much, when, and what will it cost me – either to join or disconnect…from people, from family.

There are prices to be paid for both…