Category: United States

GQ or Gentleman’s Quarterly has published an article by Michael Finkel about Christopher Knight, the so-called North Pond Hermit, who was arrested in April 2014 for stealing from Maine summer camps in the vicinity for 27 years. The article is titled “The Strange Tale of the North Pond Hermit” and is published in the September 2014 issue. The Bangor Maine News has a succinct summary.

The article is based on interviews that are the first public statements of Knight, who insists he was not a hermit but a thief, and indicates that he will have a hard time adjusting to society upon his release from jail, for he is obliged to retain a job and to stay out of the woods. From the Bangor Maine News:

“Sitting here in jail, I don’t like what I see in the society I’m about to enter,” Knight told Finkel. “I don’t think I’m going to fit in. It’s too loud. Too colorful. The lack of aesthetics. The crudeness. The inanities. The trivia.”

URLs (GQ): http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201409/the-last-true-hermit;
(Bangor Maine News): https://bangordailynews.com/2014/08/20/outdoors/north-pond-hermit-tells-gq-people-want-me-to-be-this-warm-and-fuzzy-person/

The story of Bernard Wheatley (1919-1991) is notable because he was a black American and a physician, but left his career and contacts to move to Hawaii and become a hermit. He cited Jesus and Buddha as his main inspirations, but other psychological motives underlie his decision to quit society and live in solitude. Wheatley’s life is described in an article in Ebony Magazine, December, 1959, reprinted by Hermitary from Google Books.

URL: http://www.hermitary.com/articles/wheatley.html

Last year, 22 year old Greg Hindy embarked on a solitary year-long walk across the United States from his native New Hampshire to California, in silence. His journey is described in a Boston Globe article, which links to Greg’s website and Facebook pages maintained by his supportive father. The trek is an expression of performance art (Hindy’s chief possession being a large-format camera for documenting what he encounters), but also an experiment in mindfulness and meditation.

URL: http://www.boston.com/travel/destinations/2014/07/08/new-england-native-completes-year-long-silent-journey-foot/vyTYWSXjU270u2UFtKV79H/story.html

Many web sources are reporting this news item concerning students in a psychology experiment at the University of Virginia. In a version from ScienceAlert of Australia/New Zealand, the article is titled and subtitled: “People prefer electric shocks to quality alone time: Scientists reveal that being left alone with your thoughts is deeply unpleasant.” The Washington Post story title is: “Most men would rather shock themselves than be alone with their thoughts.” The original announcement in EurekaAlert reports:

Most people are just not comfortable in their own heads, according to a new psychological investigation led by the University of Virginia.

The investigation found that most would rather be doing something – possibly even hurting themselves – than doing nothing or sitting alone with their thoughts, said the researchers, whose findings will be published July 4 in the journal Science.

In a series of 11 studies, U.Va. psychologist Timothy Wilson and colleagues at U.Va. and Harvard University found that study participants from a range of ages generally did not enjoy spending even brief periods of time alone in a room with nothing to do but think, ponder or daydream. The participants, by and large, enjoyed much more doing external activities such as listening to music or using a smartphone. Some even preferred to give themselves mild electric shocks than to think.

URL: EurekaAlert – http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uov-dsi063014.php
ScienceAlert – http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20140507-25820.html
Washington Post – http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/07/03/most-men-would-rather-shock-themselves-than-be-alone-with-their-thoughts/