What motives draw men to bury themselves in retreats, caves, and hermitages? The longing for a peaceful atmosphere after the world's turmoil and materialism must be a frequent cause. The aspiration to make something of themselves spiritually and morally must be another motive. The state of surfeit following pleasures, passions, and desires may turn them toward asceticism. The death of wife, child, a beloved, creates real loneliness for others and the old familiar social circles become uncongenial in the need of a new scene. And then there are those who look at the international scene darkly, gloomily, with forebodings, and withdraw from it in hopelessness. There are the misfits who simply cannot cope with the difficulties of living in organized society as it is outside the monasteries and so retire inside them. Lastly, many a flight arises from a guilt complex.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 4 : Retreat Centres > # 53
