Why do saints live away from crowded places?

[avito009]

we all have emotional needs even saints have them. But saints go to forests or hilly areas difficult to get to because they have conquered their emotional needs. Is this line of thinking correct?

 

[Vanadium 50]

No. It's utter nonsense. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, for example, lived in...well, Calcutta.

 

[Sophia]

It is true that many well known saints live /lived in isolation either in nature or in convents.
But everyone is called to be a saint. "Saint" means being close to God. There are hundreds of common people who reached sainthood but may not be officially known and celebrated by the Church.

Everyone who lives a good life, perhaps suffering, and loving with his whole heart is /can become a Saint in the Catholic sense.
There are many ways how to reach this state. Living alone and mediating is only one of them.

Popes of the 20th century, esp John Paul II and then his successors started to stress the call of laity to become saints in their families and communities.
There are documents and articles in the catechism that deal with this, but I don't know them by heart right now. Can find them though, if you're interested.

As far as Christianity is concerned, there's a need to love and help the community. Remember the 2 most important laws?
Love God
Love your neighbour as yourself
Both are needed and complement each other. So theoretically, you need to be among the people in order to cultivate love

 

[Pepper Mint]

we all have emotional needs even saints have them. But saints go to forests or hilly areas difficult to get to because they have conquered their emotional needs. Is this line of thinking correct?

I think that is just one tiny part of one of a plethora of mythical accounts about saints or gods/goddesses. I love all mythical stories about them. There are, for example, Bodhisattva in Buddhism refuse to reach Buddhahood - the final goal in the enlightenment path - only because they want to stay around with humans to relieve their sufferings and to enlighten them.

 

[Evo]

This gets into religion, closed.