ANCIENT& not so ancient WISDOM
offering a weekly positive perspective

March 10, 2005

"The great omission in American life is solitude; not loneliness, for this is an alienation that thrives most in the midst of crowds, but that zone of time and space, free from the outside pressures, which is the incubator of the spirit."

- Marya Mannes (1904-1990)

Maria von Heimburg Mannes was born in New York, New York on November 14, 1904. Her parents were musicians and her private education focused on the arts, specifically writing. By age 18 she was writing plays and contributing to Harper's Magazine. Her first play produced on Broadway was not a great success.

From 1926 to 1936, her career included being a feature editor for Vogue magazine, a correspondent for the Office of War Information, and an analyst for the Office of Strategic Services. Much of that time, she lived in Italy with her second husband.

Following WWII, she resumed writing for magazines, including the New Yorker and Glamour. Message from a Stranger, her first novel, was published in 1948. Her later books include They (1968); Out of My Time (1971), an autobiography; Uncoupling (1972), an account of her three divorces; and Last Rites (1974), a plea for laws supporting euthanasia. 

Mannes has been referred to as one of the most perceptive observers of the American way of life. She died on September 13, 1990, in San Francisco.

In today's busy world, it is difficult to find solitude. My sanctuary is the ocean. It is one of those places that provides me a chance to decompress even though my space is encroached upon by other surfers vying for the same waves. My solitude comes when I sit waiting for a wave and then cease to wait: I just sit and feel the swells move beneath me and experience the horizon without focus or intent. The moments are precious and require an initial effort to experience them. When I do, I realize how important they are.

Wishing you sanctuary and solitude.

Sincerely,

 - my sanctuary, on a very unusual day in  February 2005