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.
Australian radio program on hermits
From Radio Nederlands, an intriguing half-hour audio program by Australian producers and writers Stewart Nestel and Peter Davis, who “went in search of people who have chosen to become hermits, and of people who encountered them.” Essentially on wilderness hermits, but interesting reflections on the psychological and spiritual realizations discovered by those who live in the “bush.” Narrative inserts of hermit poems, too.
Here is the website’s description of the program:
The Australian bush can be brutally harsh and unforgiving as well as hauntingly beautiful. It is also an ideal place to seek a solitary life. Being so totally alone in nature can be a unique experience. It can unlock all sorts of secrets of one’s true self. It can teach a person to stop time. It can be a place of escape, and of discovery. “In Search of the Hermit Within” is a story about people in search of something that only solitude could provide.
URL: http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/radioprogrammes/voxhumana/050715vh?view=Standard.
Or access the audio directly:
Windows Media Player (http://cgi.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/smac/2004/in_search_of_the_hermit_within_050715vh.wma)
Real Player: http://cgi.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/smac/2004/in_search_of_the_hermit_within_050715vh_
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Originally broadcast by Australian Broadcasting Corporation in February 2005 but audio not available on their web site: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/radioeye/stories/s1285016.htm.
Wisconsin hermit nun
Detailed article on Sister Mary Dawiczyk, a hermit in Genoa, Wisconsin. The Catholic diocese of La Crosse has published guidelines on the eremetic vocation and reports five canonical hermits within its boundaries. The article is “Alone with God: Hermit nun lives life of prayer, solitude” by Gayda Hollnagel of the La Crosse Tribune. URL: http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2005/07/17/news/01hermit.txt.
Luc Novovitch: hermit photos
Photographer Luc Novovitch has assembled an interesting gallery of eighteen photos of contemporary hermits at his novopix web site. Click on each thumbnail to get a text summary and a larger image. URL: http://www.novopix.com/stock/hermits%20gallery/. Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
Lebh Shomea
News article on Lebh Shomea, a Catholic hermitage in southern Texas. Three individuals function as staff, with 25 individual huts occupied for various lengths of time by visitors from around the world. The article writer says succinctly: “The rule here is silence, the only amenity: solitude.” URL: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/
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