Angela Zito interviews Philip Groening, the producer of the film Into Great Silence, for the web site “The Revealer.” She offers some introductory personal thoughts and Groening chiefly addresses the making of the film, but also the experience of silence, aloneness, and his own spiritual sensibilities. URL: http://www.therevealer.org/archives/main_story_002784.php.
Sadhus at Ardh Kumbh Mela
From a Malaysian journalist, a straight-forward all-too-brief story “Lifted by the Spirit” on the sadhus or hermits attending the Ardh Kumbh Mela celebration in Allahabad, India, on the banks of the Ganges River, through January and February. From The Star;, includes a few pictures.
URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/1/28/
lifefocus/16682714&sec=lifefocus.
Barker, the Black Hills Hermit
The California Historical Association at the University of Southern California holds a ca. 1900 photograph of “Barker, the Black Hills Hermit,” purportedly a miner. A close inspection of the photo, however, suggests a false beard and hair, plus an artifical pose. This is made even more likely by the photographer’s florid description of the hermit, which follows, evoking all of the stereotype of the hermit of modern legend. (The photograph reproduced here is just a small version of the larger, for which USC requires permission and payment. See URLs below.)
This extraordinary individual, a man of “great vigor,” despite his many years, is a character one seldom sees in this busy world. He has lived in this cave, completely isolated from all human companionship, for many years. The only evidence of civilization in that rude habitation was an old faded picture of a young girl with a singularly beautiful face. Feeling instinctly that she was in some way connected with his former life, to my repeated questions, he finally disclosed to me the following narrative: “You are right. I loved that girl; I love her yet. A few days before we were to be united she died. The world lost its charm for me; the old pleasant scenes I once thought so charming became intolerable. So vividly did everything remind me of her that I resolved to go away and live entirely alone. But who can tell,” he added with a mournful smile, “when the inscrutable mists that veil the future are lifted, that I may once more see her again.” He would speak no more, and so I left him, pondering over by-gone memories that all these long years had not served to obliterate.
URLs
Original image:
http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/chs/production/
80/0f/13/CHS-2144cis_1024_lres.jpg
Close up:
http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/chs/production/
80/0f/13/CHS-2137cis_1024_lres.jpg
Underground solitary
An Italian sociologist Maurizio Montalbini will spend three years in an underground cave as part of a study on human functions when deprived of natural light. Montalbini has twice before lived underground (and holds the world record for doing so) but not for this long. He will live much like an astronaut, though with some favorite foods and a library of 85 books. URL:
http://edition1.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/13/tbr.numbers.caveman/;
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/15/eng20061015_311869.html.
Big Sur Camaldolese
Article about the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, hermitage of Camaldolese monks. From the article: “‘We’re hermits, but it’s not as strict as some orders,’ said the Rev. Raniero Hoffman, the hermitage’s resident prior. ‘There’s a certain amount of community.'” URL:
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/15597608.htm.