I am, by nature and temperament, an introvert. I often tell people that, “It's not that I
don't like people. I just like them better when they're not around.” I am not one that enjoys being in a crowd of
people. After a few hours of interaction
with others I’m ready to spend some time by myself. I’ll go into my “cave” and close the door and
if you don’t let me see you or hear you for a while, I’ll be okay. Some people are charged up by their
interaction with others, but not me. I am energized in my thoughts and in my
thinking. I like to be alone
sometimes. I need to be alone
sometimes.
And, based on reading through the gospel of Mark, I’d be willing to be that Jesus was a bit of an introvert as well. Look at how often he’s trying to get away by himself. Notice how often he is trying to leave the crowds. He sneaks out of Peter’s house in the still dark hours of the morning; he leaves the city for lonely, solitary places.
The crowds that followed him and clamored for his attention disrupted his travel plans, made it impossible for him to enter cities, and even –at times – made it impossible for him to eat[i]. Jesus, I think, might have even acknowledged Jean Paul Sartre’s comment that, “hell is other people.”[ii]
But it isn’t that introverts want to be alone all the time. Introverts need alone, quiet time to recharge and to think and to be whole – but we introverts need people too. Too much interaction and activity and noise ruins the introvert’s creativity and joy and ability to function, but too little interaction turns him into a recluse, a hermit. There is a balance to be found.
In his now classic devotional work, The Imitation of
Christ, Thomas a Kempis wrote:
To him who withdraweth himself from his acquaintance and
friends God with his holy angels will draw nigh. It is better to be unknown and take heed to
oneself than to neglect
oneself and work wonders. It is praiseworthy for a religious man to go seldom abroad, to
fly from being seen, to have no desire to see men.
oneself and work wonders. It is praiseworthy for a religious man to go seldom abroad, to
fly from being seen, to have no desire to see men.
I am not ashamed to tell you that I am an introvert. It’s who I am, and it’s okay. Some of us are created that way. We desire to be alone, not because we don’t
like people but because we need to be alone with God, in order to better love
the people around us. Maybe you’re like
me (and Jesus, it seems), maybe you find you’re the first to leave the party,
maybe you don’t like to take part in group discussions. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s even a good thing. Take time to be by yourself, it’s important.
It’s healthy.
But don’t neglect being with others. You need them too, and they’ll miss you if you become a hermit. Even Jesus, who in Mark’s gospel is constantly trying to leave the crowds behind, spent much of his time with the people in those crowds. He shared with them and taught them, and healed them and touched them. But he also took time – insisted upon time - to be alone, in a quiet and solitary place. He found a balance between time with the crowds and time alone.
But don’t neglect being with others. You need them too, and they’ll miss you if you become a hermit. Even Jesus, who in Mark’s gospel is constantly trying to leave the crowds behind, spent much of his time with the people in those crowds. He shared with them and taught them, and healed them and touched them. But he also took time – insisted upon time - to be alone, in a quiet and solitary place. He found a balance between time with the crowds and time alone.
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