Retreats

Marcus Aurelius writes:

We seek retreats for ourselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains; and you too are disposed to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of person, for it is in your power whenever you shall choose to retire into yourself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble do you retire than into your own soul, particularly when you have within you such thoughts that by looking into them you are immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.

I just finished reading Walden recently, as I previously mentioned. Thoreau's two years at Walden is a perfect example of a well-used retreat. Could Walden had conducted his retreat purely mentally, while going about his everyday life? I think not. The whole point of his retreat is a complete break with both his own habits and the habits that civilizations forces on us. This is where the wonderful philosophy of Walden comes from. And the observations of nature that permeate the book would obviously not be possible with merely a mental retreat. Only with an actual retreat was he able to describe nature with a careful and analytic eye.

A change of scenery is good for us. There's truth that we can achieve tranquility without it, but the scenery change is a good psychological prod for us to change for the better as well. So, maybe we can still practice to achieve the tranquility a retreat brings even without the retreat. But the retreat will always offer us unique advantages.