Would We Find More Silence at Home?

Among the other kinds of illusion and mistake on our part which, with their empty promise of spiritual gain, have set us on fire with longing for our own country (as you in your holiness have found out by the keen insight of your mind), this one stands out as the chief reason: sometimes we are crowded by our brothers and cannot possibly keep up unbroken solitude and continual silence, as we would like. Because of this, the course and measure of our daily abstinence, which we always want to keep undisturbed for the disciplining of our body, is sure to be interrupted when some of the brothers arrive. We are certain this would never happen in our own country, where it is impossible to find anyone, or hardly anyone, who follows this way of life. [a]