One of the starker decrees of culture is expressed in the biblical Leviticus 13: 46, concerning anyone with leprosy: “He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” Whether this was literal concerning sufferers of Hanson’s Disease, or is taken metaphorically to represent sin, cultures have always seen “living alone, outside the camp” to be the worse fate anyone can suffer. Enforced solitude is society’s tool for dealing with a criminal, dissenter, the diseased, or those it simply treats as different. Hence the potential solitary — who is already a solitary in his heart — must realize that, from society’s point of view, he/she is entering the company of outcasts.
journal of reflections by the resident of the Hermitary