news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
Einzelgänger is a website and Youtube channel. The sites offer many interesting, informative, and useful essays and talks on a variety of related subjects: Buddhism, Taoism, Stoicism, philosophy, psychology, solitude and loneliness. A recent item is the fiften-minute video titled “When Walking Away is the Only Answer: the Path of the Hermit.”
URLs: https://www.youtube.com/@Einzelg%C3%A4nger/videos (Youtube); https://einzelganger.co/ (website).
The BBC Culture section offers an article titled “‘Humans need solitude’: How being alone can make you happier.” The article reviews recent books and films touching upon the subject of solitude. “Thoughtful and positive outlooks on solitude have been taking up more and more space on our screens, bookshelves and smartphones, from podcasts to viral TikToks. Seemingly, there’s never been a better time to be alone,” notes the article.
URL: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250609-how-being-alone-can-make-you-happier
CNA Today, a Singapore-based news and features site (Channel News Asia) includes a piece titled “Gen Zen: The value of solitude and how to ask for ‘me-time’ without being seen as antisocial.” The article is chiefly a conversation of the author with two psychologists discussing solitude, loneliness, and the difference between the two.
Psyche and Vimeo present an Aeon 15-minute documentary video titled “Notes from Above the Clouds,” about a man who quits emplyment as a routine office worker to herd sheep in the French Pyrenees. From the film’s description, Adham Dobai “thrives in the rugged solitude, finding a deep connection with the terrain, the animals and this ancient tradition” called transhumance.
URLs: Psyche: https://psyche.co/videos/a-former-office-worker-charts-his-own-path-herding-sheep-high-into-the-pyrenees; Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/1095097761
Argentine news site Infobas offers an article about 83-year-old resident of Sagne-Battute, a southweastern French villege. He is the only inhabitant of the village, at the end of a four kilometer road where five empty chalets dot the land. Jean-Louis returned to the village after retiring, intending to restore his grandparents’ farm, and has remained. He describes his life as in a desert, with a television his only link to the outside world — plus the mail that arrives once a week. Articlein Spanish.