What does it mean to "retire into oneself"?

Public Comments

1. It means to become introverted, to focus entirely upon one's own thoughts, to become quiet, still and unaware of the external world.
2. I think it means that you're there phsyically but have withdrawn inside. If you've ever seen somebody really get reamed out, at some point they even stop defending themselves and are just there physically but have retired into themselves.