Man's need to isolate himself temporarily but regularly from the world's turmoil is more urgent in this century than in any previous one. The intent should not be to escape but to rally the spiritual forces and recuperate from personal stresses, to take a proper look at the kind of life-pattern he is weaving and to note defects and plan amendments. No one would be worse and everyone would be better for taking a little time out of his day, for suspending his daily activities for perhaps a half hour every day, to "go into the silence." Life becomes spacious and unstrained, its horizon of daily living enlarged, when a still timelessness creeps into a man's make-up. He will become less hurried but not less active. He knows that his future is assured because his present conduct is serene and that it is safe because his present understanding is right.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 1 : Take Intermittent Pauses > # 123
