[These are personal reflections!]

Yesterday I was thinking about living alone in the context of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling and the mystical theology of Meister Eckhart. The only vow that a solitary in Anglicanism takes is that of “celibacy” – sacred singleness. I have always argued the line that it is not a rejection of relationships in general but rather a choosing of Jesus to be the only relationship.

In Fear and Trembling, SK speaks about the movements of faith – the surrender and the “picking up”. I surrender temporal time and pick up eternality. I think living alone (to some extent) has taught me that, yes, I surrender human relationships for the relationship with Jesus but also I move from seeing people as “its” (objects) to seeing people as “yous”. So, in a paradox that SK would be proud of, by being alone I see people as people!

I always feel like my solitude is a luxury and very selfish. Yet it is for the “building up of God’s Church”! In a world where everyone is an object, we need people to see people as people. I have a very long way to go, much to confess, and lots to internalise. But, as one preacher once said, “I’ll give it a crack”.