It is a place where the individual is dependent on the inner resources of mind and soul, and where one discovers what one's true values are.
For Christians the period of Lent marks the forty days and nights which Jesus spent in the wilderness after His baptism and before He began His ministry.
It is described as a period of temptation, where Jesus rejects the attractions of wrong-doing.
The founders, or key figures, of other religions also, and importantly, spend a period in the wilderness.
Both the Buddha and Mohammed chose to leave a life of luxury and prosperity to dwell in wild places.
After six years of fasting and wandering, the Buddha spent seven weeks under the Bodhi-tree, or Tree of Enlightenment before becoming a spiritual teacher.
In the wilderness Mohammed had encounters with the Angel Gabriel.
