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Good morning,

During this period of lockdown, I’ve spent a good part of it wondering how best to spend this time. Although this situation is all rather strange to us, we’re not the only ones to have experienced enforced isolation before. As it turns out, past periods of individual isolation have had profound effects on the whole human race.

Demosthenes was an ancient Greek orator, and some say the best orator of all time. Orphaned as a child, he was sickly and frail with a debilitating speech impediment. To overcome this, he self-isolated from Greek society, even shaving half of his head to prevent himself from wanting to go out in public. During this period, he filled his mouth with pebbles and walked up hills, practising speeches to improve his diction and build up his strength. Upon his return to Greek society once he became of age and, armed to his newly acquired skills, he was able to win back a portion of his rightful inheritance in court. According to one story, when he was asked to name the three most important elements in oratory, he replied, "Delivery, delivery and delivery!"

In 1665 when the whole of Britain was being ravaged by the bubonic plague, 24-year-old Sir Isaac Newton was ordered to leave his university campus and isolate himself in his childhood home. During this time, and away from the distractions of other students, he set up a small office for himself. There, he detailed all of his ideas of calculus, theory of universal gravitation, and explored optics, experimenting with prisms and investigating light.

When the plague eventually ended, he returned to Trinity College and, galvanised by his new ideas, he became a fellow and eventually a professor. Newton himself would say about this forced time away from university life (which is also referred to as ‘The Year of Wonders’), “For in those days I was in the prime of my age for invention and minded Mathematics and Philosophy more than at any time since.”

Stealing from shops since the age of nine to feed his family, Malcolm Little was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the age of 19 in 1946 for larceny and breaking and entering. There he met fellow inmate John Bembry, a self-educated man he would later describe as, “The first man I had ever seen command total respect... with words.”

Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading. He began with works of history – the horrors of slavery made a particular impression on him – as well as virtually all other non-fiction he could get his hands on. He even tried memorising the dictionary. “In every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk,” Malcolm wrote in his autobiography. “You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge.” He was released in 1952 and soon became a champion of civil rights, better known as Malcolm X.

Nelson Mandela was another who spent time in prison – 27 years to be precise – during apartheid in South Africa. Upon his release in 1990, he negotiated an end to apartheid and became president of South Africa a few years later. When interviewed many years later by Tony Robbins on how he survived decades in prison, his response was, “I didn’t survive; I prepared.”

It seems like lots of human history is filled with growth after isolation. Some contemporary Buddhist cultures even encourage long periods of solitude to help seek enlightenment. So with the time we have left of this once-in-a-century event, how would you best like to look back on what you did with this period in years to come?

Enjoy the rest of your week and make the most of it.

Gopal