What is needed in the West today are houses of retreat, quiet places in the country, free from the noises of a city, where persons who are mentally and temperamentally ready and who are prepared to live with some measure of ascetic restraint may pass a short or long time in study and meditation without entering a monastic order and without submitting to old dogmatic religions. In these retreats men can work at cleansing themselves from the stains, and healing themselves from the wounds, with which existence in the world has marked them. In these protective nests they can nurture ideals whose height and ethereality would seem impossible to the manacled denizens of that world. Any wealthy person who devotes some part of his fortune to founding such establishments will certainly make some favourable destiny for himself.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 4 : Retreat Centres > # 43
