In February of 2010, philosopher-writer Sylvain Tesson took a hiatus from his fast-paced city life and headed for a small cabin on the banks of Lake Baikal in Russia. With a hearty supply of pasta, tabasco, vodka, and Nietzsche, Tesson embarked upon the impressive 3-day journey from Irkutsk to the western shores of the deepest lake in the world, where he planned to spend six months in solitude. His consequent book, Consolations of the Forest, is a collection of journal entries written during that time, not to mention an inspiring and galvanizing peek into the vast realm of retreat.
If his reasons for going sound familiar, or at the very least intriguing, you too may be prime for a retreat of your own:
I talked too much
I wanted silence
Too behind with my mail and too many people to see
I was jealous of Crusoe
It’s better heated than my place in Paris
Tired of running errands
So I can scream and live naked
Because I hate the telephone and traffic noise
