This week, Susan Cain was the guest speaker for the weekly university devotional, in which she addressed the qualities of introversion and extroversion and how more fully creating atmospheres for introverts could create a more efficient and symbiotic community. A quality of introversion is the desire of solitude, as she mentioned in a TED talk. She gave examples of great artists who would go into solitude to unlock their inner creativity, and great leaders, including Jesus Christ, who would seek solidarity for the sake of revelation and celestial communion. I thought about the times that Christ had secluded himself on the mountain top. One example is after the miracle of producing thousands of fish and loaves of bread, found in Matthew 14.
Matthew 14:
22 ¶And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
It must have been a great comfort to the Savior to go up to the mountains to be alone and pray. Extroverted, introverted, or a combination of the two, I imagine that it's important for every person to get some alone time. Alone time unattached from everything, except the oratory channels to heaven, that is. It gives us an environment to search ourselves, ponder about our lives, goals, challenges, desires, dreams, and to pray and search for guidance. I vaguely remember Elder Ballard inviting all young adults to seek alone time to ponder and just feel peace. I think that's something that all of us can better incorporate in our lives. Maybe hanging out on a mountain top is too cold this season (unless you're skiing, then heck yea) but it's definitely worth while finding a quite place to sit still, think, and pray.
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