What is the purpose of the discipline of solitude?

1 Kings 19:8-9So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

In solitude, we abandon the distractions of life and things we have come to depend on that deceive us into believing we can make it on our own. When we stand alone, face to face with God, we realize how much we need him and depend on him.