麻豆社

Good morning. Thanks to the dreadful coronavirus, millions of people are suddenly forced to stay indoors and lock the world out - but for some of us, daily life hasn't changed that much. I am a writer and, like a lot of shy people, I'm used to being alone. You could say I've been self-isolating for 37 years.

If anything, the epidemic has made me feel more a part of the national community than ever before. Like thousands of you, I've volunteered to help the NHS. I've delivered food. I've even spoken to my next-door neighbour, which I don't think I've done for about 3 years. I understand well the pains of isolation, because I've experienced them myself, but just because someone is introverted or shy, it doesn't mean they are completely cut off from society. They just engage with it in a different way.

I have always felt a particular affinity for Saint Cuthbert, who was born around 634AD. Cuthbert was part of a monastic community on Lindisfarne, an island off the coast of Northumberland, but even that wasn鈥檛 isolated enough for Cuthbert. First he asked if he could move by himself to a smaller island just off Lindisfarne, but this was still too close to civilisation because people could shout over the water to him. So Cuthbert sailed out even further to another island called Inner Farne, where he lived alone in a refuge made from turf and stone. When the weather turned bad, Cuthbert would allow the local ducks to shelter in his house.

It might sound as if Cuthbert was a misanthrope, but he managed to construct a guest house for visitors and people would come to him for advice. He was outgoing and a great evangelist, loved by those who knew him, so much so that he was called out of isolation and elected a bishop, a task that he performed with dedication until, sensing that he was winding down, he asked if he could go back to his island to die. My point is that monasteries might be set apart from society but they are still deeply concerned with society. Monks work and teach; they carry out acts of charity; they pray for others, and they will be praying for an end to the Coronavirus right now.

Many of us find that this crisis is causing us to re-evaluate what really matters, and I think there is wisdom in a monk鈥檚 desire to put aside the 鈥渄istractions of world鈥� 鈥� the noise and the nonsense 鈥� to focus on becoming a fuller human being, by showing resilience and compassion. It鈥檚 not impossible that some people will come out of this changed for the better.

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