Jun 24, 2015-- "One can never be alone enough to write"... And yet despite the vast creative and psychological benefits of boredom, we have grown so afraid of it that we have unlearned -- or refused to learn altogether -- the essential art of being alone, so very necessary for contemplation and creative work." In discussing the life and work of 19th century French artist and diarist Eugene Delacroix, Maria Popova delves into the role of solitude which is perhaps more pertinent for us in the 21st century in -- "an age of exponentially swelling social demands and distraction" -- than it was two centuries ago. (11574 reads)