The retreat into the personal solitude of desert or mountain and the retirement into the fraternal monastery of a holy order are outstanding social features of an asceticism which frowns upon the world as Satan's haunt. India has not had a monopoly of them nor was she needed to teach other countries how to practise them. The first years of Christianity witnessed the arisal of hundreds of thousands of hermits or monks in the land of the Nile, on the rocks of the Thebaid, and among the deserts of Libya. In the fifth century, the social dissolution and economic miseries which preceded, accompanied, and followed the break-up of the Roman Empire spread millions of Christian monks and nuns throughout Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. For it is pre-eminently during times of earthly despair that men turn most away to celestial hope, as it is during periods of social disintegration that they seek solace in ascetic peace. They feel the futility of human undertakings or disgust with human sins. The reaction is natural and pardonable. But it may also be an attempt to reject the heavy problems of life by running away from them altogether.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 4 : Retreat Centres > # 64
