Issue 18 (Fall-Winter 2000) of What is Enlightenment? magazine included a thematic collection of articles under the heading: “What Does It Mean To Be In The World But Not Of It?” The section “Renounce” includes an interview with the Carmelite monk and hermit William McNamara. Other viewpoints under “Transcend” and “Embrace” make this issue of lively interest.
Desert spirituality
A 1992 article entitled “Desert Faith” in Spirituality Today on desert spirituality, inspired by the author’s residence near a Colorado desert. URL: http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/92441hatch.htm. Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
Utne hut article
The January-February 2005 issue of Utne magazine has a short article entitled “A Hut of One’s Own,” on the hermit hut. Includes a picture of a modern-styled hut you can build from design plans (plans not included in the article). Mentions Thoreau and others but especially Kamo no Chomei. The online edition gives you paragraph one only. URL: http://www.utne.com/pub/2005_127/cover_story/11506-1.html.
Hermit orders
A friend of Hermitary suggests the following web sites for information about some contemporary hermit orders: Community of the Servants of the Will of God (http://orders.anglican.org/arcyb/cswg.html), Heartsong Hermitage (http://www.prayer4you.org), Franciscan Missionary Hermits of St. Joseph (http://www.medugorje.com/fmhj), and International Fellowship of St. Bruno/St. Bruno Lay Contemplatives (http://www.laycarthusians.homestead.com), with pages on the Community of Hermits of St. Bruno (http://http://www.laycarthusians.homestead.com/CHSB.html) and the Hermits of Bethlehem (http://www.laycarthusians.homestead.com/Lit1.html) founded by the popular priest and writer Eugene Romano.
Horgan on Steindl-Rast
John Horgan is a science journalist, skeptical about spiritual topics but intrigued enough to pursue what he calls (and titles his latest book) “rational mysticism.” So his pursuit of the Catholic lay brother, writer and part-time hermit David Steindl-Rast (now at Sky Farm Hermitage), is interesting for what it reveals about Steindl-Rast’s eclectic spirituality and how his eremiticism is a part of his personality and thinking. The essay is “A Modern Catholic Mystic” at John Horgan’s own web site. URL: http://www.johnhorgan.org/work6.htm.