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Good Morning.

On this day nineteen years ago, the Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn made an emotional homecoming to his native Russia, after twenty years in exile and an eight-year term in a labour camp as punishment for his extraordinary political writings. I still remember the intense experience of reading his novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, with its stark description of life in captivity – and in an effort to impress, I probably wasn’t the only teenager to misspell his name on my university application.

Solzhenitsyn’s powerful insights and passionate intelligence were honed by his many years of solitude. Cut off from most ordinary distractions, he had time to reflect deeply and to hone his talents and abilities. The twenty-seven years that Nelson Mandela endured in prison, and the fifteen years that Aung San Suu Kyi spent under house arrest, undoubtedly played a similar part in their development as visionary leaders.

One of the main teachings of the Buddha is that it’s our mind and our attitudes that  set the tone for our lives. The mind is compared to the sea: choppy on the surface, and strong and calm in its depths. Most of the time, we’re caught up and tossed around in the everyday challenges of earning a living, bringing up a family and seeking a comfortable lifestyle – on the surface of the water. So to find fifteen minutes each day, or an hour each week to step back and dive deep, is an act of great kindness to ourselves, and a key aspect of leading a meaningful life. 

In the case of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, they were forced by circumstance to take time out. How wonderful if each of us could find some way to make more quiet time in our busy lives. Let’s pray that we can do this.