Pico Iyer on how solitude, stillness, and silence play an essential counterbalance to the traveling life

“In solitude, I often feel closer to the people I care for than when they’re in the same room.” –Pico Iyer

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pico talk about how the best travels are often counterbalanced with a kind of stillness, in which one can find one’s “best self” (3:00); Pico’s decades-long experiences with monks in a California monastery, the benefits of a “childlike attitude” toward life, and how “fire” can be a metaphor for spiritual life (12:00); how Pico’s solitude is informed by, and in conversation with, nature (22:00); Pico’s engaged relationship with spiritual communities, even though he is not religious (30:00); the “counterculture” spiritual tradition that grew up around Big Sur, California, and the power of longing (39:00); and how solitude can be a gateway to other people (47:00).

Pico Iyer (@PicoIyer) is a novelist, essayist, and author. His newest book is Aflame: Learning from Silence.

Notable Links:

• Pico Iyer on what Japan can teach us about life (Deviate episode 73)
• The Vagabond’s Way, by Rolf Potts (book)
• Henri Nouwen (writer and theologian)
• New Seeds of Contemplation, by Thomas Merton (book)
• The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual leader)
• The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen (book)
• Richard Powers (novelist)
• Desert Fathers (early Christian hermits and ascetics)
• Sign of Jonas, by Thomas Merton (book)
• Days of Heaven (1978 film)
• 4′33″ by John Cage (musical composition)
• New Camaldoli Hermitage (hermitage in Big Sur, California)
• Rigveda (ancient Indian collection of hymns)
• The Woman Lit by Fireflies, by Jim Harrison (book)
• Sarmoung Brotherhood (esoteric Sufi brotherhood)
• Henry Miller (novelist)
• Esalen Institute (retreat center in Big Sur)
• Bittersweet, by Susan Cain (book)
• Leonard Cohen (songwriter)
• Ludwig Wittgenstein (philosopher)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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