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Jean-François Holthof – naturalist-hermit

The French Cistercian (Trappist) monk Jean-François Holthof (b. 1948) moved into his Ardèche hermitage in 1994, dubbed the Saint-Eugène de Chassagnes hermitage, on the edge of the Païolive forest. As a hermit he became a strong defender of the forest, eventually becoming secretary general of the Associaiton paiolive, which champions preservation of the nearly sixteen square kilometers of biologically diverse woodland. In 2010, Holthof contributed to a collection of essays titled Ce que nous dit nature (“What does nature tell us,”) , accompanying a Buddhist, a NativeAmerican, and a secular writer on the convergence of religious and sectarian thought in the defense of nature.

URL: https://www.ledauphine.com/environnement/2023/04/19/ardeche-l-ermite-jean-francois-holthof-nous-raconte-son-bois-de-paiolive (includes 2-minute video).

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Hermitage of La Cordelle, France

Brief article (in French) from RCF Radio highlighting the 12th century hermitage of La Cordelle in Vézelay, France. The Franciscan hermitage today consists of three hermits; the guardian or chief caretaker is Eric Moisdon. The friars embrace the rule of St. Francis, which mingles eremitic practice with social contact (the hermits receive pilgrims and visitors). The hermits maintain extensive gardens.

URL: https://www.rcf.fr/articles/vie-spirituelle/questce-quun-ermitage

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Loneliness & Solitude –four articles

from ScienceAlert: “How Solitude Can Be Good – Even Important – For Your Mental Health”
URL: https://www.sciencealert.com/how-solitude-can-be-good-even-important-for-your-mental-health

from QuantaMagazine:”How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain”
URL: https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-loneliness-reshapes-the-brain-20230228/?sponsored=0&position=7&scheduled_corpus_item_id=809ac824-d181-45ff-8f8a-fd78e34e0dc2

from Science Daily via Association for Psychological Science: “Lonely people’s divergent thought processes may contribute to feeling ‘alone in a crowded room'”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230407124558.htm

from Psychology Today: “You Can Be Alone Without Being Lonely”
URL: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/turning-straw-into-gold/202303/you-can-be-alone-without-being-lonely

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Macaque social behavior

The Conversation offers this interesting item titled “Macaque monkeys shrink their social networks as they age,” adding the byline “new research suggests evolutionary roots of a pattern seen in elderly people, too.”

Research on 200 macaques living on an islandoff of Puerto Rico revealed that the impetus to reduce social contacts suggested an unconscious motive of propmoting health and avoiding disease in aging. The chief remaining contacts as the monkeys grew older were family and friends.

URL: https://theconversation.com/macaque-monkeys-shrink-their-social-networks-as-they-age-new-research-suggests-evolutionary-roots-of-a-pattern-seen-in-elderly-people-too-196862

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Hikikomori – update

The Japan Times among other media news sites reports on the status of hikikomori in Japan. A recent survey by the Cabinet Office concludes that there are 1.5 million hikikomori in Japan, the number having increaed because of the societal affects of the COVID period. About 2% of the population aged 15 to 62 have become recluses.

“The cabinet office surveyed 30,000 people between the ages of 10 and 69 across Japan last November. The poll found that just over a fifth of respondents aged 15-39 had been socially isolated from six months to less than a year. More than 20% said they had experienced problems with interpersonal relationships, while just over 18% cited the pandemic.” — The Guardian.

URLs: Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/04/01/national/hikikomori-numbers-pandemic/; The Guardian (UK): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/03/japan-says-15-million-people-living-as-recluses-after-covid

A review of statistical and sociological methods applied to the study of hikikomori is offered by a 2023 article published by the International Journal ofEnvironmental Research and Public Health titled “Hikikomori: A Scientometric Review of 20 Years of Research.”

URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/9/5657