"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." – Blaise Pascal

The instinct to withdraw in order to transform is as old as recorded ambition. In the third century, the Desert Fathers walked out of the cities of Egypt and into the sand because they understood that environment beats intention. One of them, Abba Moses, compressed the entire concept into a single line of advice:
"Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything."