Ken Smith, Scottish hermit

A BBC News item about 74-year old Ken Smith, who is — as the article headline puts it — “The man who has lived as a hermit for 40 years” in the Scottish highlands. Ken visited the Canadian Yukon when young and was at once attracted to wilderness. Returning to his native UK he considered what region was the most isolated, and settled there, eventually building a cabin and settling into routines of foraging and fishing. Smith is the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary titled “The Hermit of Treig.”

URLs: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-59174870 (article); https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011hp3 (film).

India (modern) forest hermit

Rediff News (India) article titled “Hermit Living In The Forest For 17 Years” consists of two sentences, with two photographs. The article text: “A man named Chandrashekhar was found living in the forest for over 17 years. He was living in his Ambassador car parked deep inside a dense forest area between the villages of Adtale and Nekkareforest in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district.”

URL: https://www.rediff.com/news/report/yeh-hai-india-hermit-living-in-the-forest-for-17-years/20211012.htm

Mauro Morandi – Update

From CNN, an update (if not the last word) about Mauro Morandi, long-standing Italian hermit, mentioned several times in this blog:

“For nearly 33 years he lived a hermit life on a beautiful island in the Mediterranean, where he was the sole inhabitant. Mauro Morandi, known as Italy’s Robinson Crusoe after developing a loyal online following, was caretaker of the Sardinian island of Budelli, embracing silence, solitude, and the peacefulness of nature while living in an old beach stone hut.There was no social buzz, no fancy food, no friends — his only companions were birds and cats. He slept on a cot and had few clothes. Forsaking all comforts, he preached a monastic existence of self-reflection and meditation on Budelli’s pink beach dotted with coral dust. Then his blissful world came to an end. After years of struggling with marine park authorities that wanted to evict him to turn the isle into an environmental observatory, in May Morandi accepted his fate. After posting a pithy message of resignation — “My balls are broken” (slang for “I’m fed up”) — he left. Moving home and starting a new life can be tough for anyone. Even more so for an 82-year-old who has spent three decades living a solitary existence on a paradise island. Is it possible to move on and readjust? Says Morandi, the answer is an emphatic ‘yes!'”

URL: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mauro-morandi-italy-hermit-did-next/

“Daily Philosophy,” website and blog

The byline for the Daily Philosophy website and blog is “Philosophy for life. Every day.” The site covers philosophical topics applied to non-philosophers, that is, intelligent readers seeking intelligent discussion of issues and angles to everyday questions, with series of themes a frequent and useful feature.

Of special interest to Hermitary readers is a series of articles under the category of hermits. Some articles and essays (so far) include:

By David E. Cooper: “Huts, Homelessness and Heimat: Chomei and Heidegger” and “The Rhetoric of Refuge: on the wish to retreat from the world”;

By Andreas Mattias, Daily Philosophy editor: “The Hermit of Suwarrow: the adventures of Tom Neale;” One Hundred Days in a Hermit’s Hut: Jane Dobisz on living alone in the woods”
“Hermits and Happiness: the long tradition of leaving it all behind.”

We are happy to welcome Professor Matthius as a friend of Hermitary and look forward to featuring his website in the future!


Serbian cave hermit gets the jab

Many media sources are reporting on the Serbian cave hermit Panta Petrovic, who on a routine trip to the nearby town learned of the Covid pandemic. He promptly took the vaccine when it became available, urging others to do so as well. A bit about his life is included in the Star (UK) story.

URL: https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/people/2021/08/23/serbian-cave-hermit-gets-the-covid-19-vaccine-and-urges-everyone-to-do-the-same