The central point of the text before us is contained in that phrase, "It is not good for the man to be alone." (Genesis 2:18) We all need solitude from time to time, to pull away, look at ourselves, ponder and evaluate. We need time to pray with a thorough honesty, to purge, to meditate; and then to find and re-establish and reground our roots and foundations. We all need that. We should take time for it. That is solitude; and it is good.

But "alone" - that is something else. There are creatures created to be alone - the shark, the oyster - and for them it is natural. But it is not good for us to be alone. There are those who try but every hermit has a very strange, if not downright crazy streak. Remember Bobby Fischer, probably the greatest chess player ever to live? The last I heard he is…