The privacy of the chamber and the shut door are not mere precautions against vainglory in one seeking God’s face in prayer, but a necessary tranquility for him to hear the answering voice. This is a fundamental reason of the quest of solitude; absence of worry, silence, a certain leisure even, are indispensable in greater or lesser degree for intimate communication with God. ~Peter F. Anson, The Quest of Solitude, Introduction, pg xviii