Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
Phil Daoust writes the article “The Joys of Solitude” for the Guardian, recounting his own experience of solitude on the Scottish isle of Skye, and reflections of others on the experience of solitude: Anneli Rufus, Sara Maitland, Richard Byrd, and Bob Kull.
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/02/joys-of-solitude-lonely
Tricycle, the Buddhist magazine, offers this excerpt by Pema Chodron from her 2005 book No Time to Lose. The excerpt is titled “Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude.” The bylines tells all about the article: “Pema Chödrön walks us through Shantideva’s prescription for solitude, verse by verse.” Thanks to a friend of Hermitary for pointing out this excerpt.
URL: http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/cutting-ties-the-fruits-solitude?
Finding websites on eremitism and solitude from a Jewish point of view is easier now with these representative web sites:
Rabbi Dovid Sears and “A Simple Jew” maintain the new site titled “Solitude” (hisbodedus in Hebrew). The site includes selections from and commentaries on historical Jewish teachings on solitude and meditation. Sears also collaborates on the blog “A Simple Jew.”
An early presentation of a similar theme is the blog “Jewish Contemplatives” maintained by Norman Davies, who describes himself as a hermit residing in Granada, Spain.
URLs:
Solitude-Hisbodedus: http://solitude-hisbodedus.blogspot.com
A Simple Jew: http://asimplejew.blogspot.com
Jewish Contemplatives: http://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com
Podcast episode 105 of Buddhist Geeks is titled “The Forest Dwelling Yogi” and interviews Reginald Ray on
the forest dwelling meditator, a category of practitioner outside of the normal lay / monastic dichotomy. In particular we look at the role that retreat — both group and solitary — plays for the type of practitioner that does intensive retreat but is not a full-time practitioner.
Ray notes how the solitary retreat opens new space in self-awareness, and enhances awareness of one’s body and of details of our physical environment.
URL: http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/236-buddhist-geeks/episodes/26539-forest-dwelling
Intriguing little report in the “Helsingin Sanomat” by Illka Malmberg entitled “Life and Death of an Urban Hermit.” Relates the story of a man who lived as a recluse in Helsinki and died unnoticed in his home, and of the long passage of time in which no one discovered the fact. While a common theme in local newspapers, presented with a macabre air, this piece is thoughtful and well-written, though as journalism without a solution to the premised problem. About the whole issue, the writer concludes reflectively:
Finland has its its share of rural hermits, often doubling as the village idiot or the local eccentric, and they have been left alone to live in peace.
Then when one day they are found dead by the postman or the meter-reader, the people living round about do not go beating their breasts and worrying about guilt and “what should we have done” – the deceased had lived the life he or she always wanted.
But hermits living in a big city are another matter altogether. We have yet to come to terms with the phenomenon, and this is the reason it makes news and causes people to ask if it “could have been prevented”, or if it is a reflection of our readiness to let the welfare nanny-state take on all social responsibilities for us, including “love thy neighbour”.
URL: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/
Life+and+death+of+an+urban+recluse/1135234722129