What is the origin of the hermit? The hermit varies per culture, but historically is identified as contriving a purpose that opposes the larger society in which the individual lives and functions.The motive is often depicted as evolving from a restlessness or dissatisfaction, to a processsion of thought about how the eremitic life might emerge ..read more

Picking up from the previous entry about chickadees: The black-capped chickadee dwells in tree hollows, those spaces within the trunks of trees that have been hollowed out by birds (especially woodpeckers searching for insects) or by injury or from sim[ple decay. These hollows are often deep and include pulpy wood. The hollows are relatively safe ..read more

A delight of deep winter is offering sunflower seeds to birds, specifically, to black-capped chickadees. The black-capped chickadee is probably the most resilient of birds. Around December first, when heavier snows are falling and temperatures dip below freezing -— and it becomes clear, too, that bears have gone into hibernation — the time is right ..read more

Jalal Al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) is a complex poet. His frequent use of flamboyant, often sensual, metaphor to express mystical thought can both confound and illuminate. But Rumi’s Sufism denominates his spirituality as being derived ultimately from a monastic versus an eremitic tradition, or perhaps rather from an intellectual or artistic source given his poetic propensities ..read more

If April is the cruelest month because it encourages the growth of flowers but can suddenly cut them down with resurrected cold, autumn is its counterpart. The last warmth of summer lingers into autumn, and the trees reflect the turning of the season with their colorful, dying leaves. Thoreau says of autumn that the leaves ..read more

In searching for a prototype modern hermit, one is confronted by the reality that after the Middle Ages, hermits in modernity were destined by authorities to disappear. In order to survive, eremitism transformed into solitude, and hermits transformed into solitaries. Unlike historical hermits, however, who seem so similar regardless of geography, culture, or era, solitaries ..read more

Here are a few favorite random snippets from Zen resources: from Iron Flute. 14. Pai-Yun’s poem: Where others dwell, I do not dwell. Where others go, 
I do not go. This does not mean to refuse association with others; 
I only want to make 
black and white distinct. ***** from Gateless Gate. 19. “Everyday Life ..read more

An acquaintance of an acquaintance indicates that a relation, a man nearly forty years old, has passed away. This man was scorned by family, rejecting of society, and clearly suffered much trauma. He was autistic, reclusive, anxious, depressed, obsessive-compulsive, suffered diabetes and cardiac issues, dying of heart failure. He eked out a life dependent on ..read more

We often ascribe personality and character traits to animals: courage to lions, wisdom to owls, cheerfulness to beavers, for example. Simon & Garfunkel’s popular 1967 song “At the Zoo” offers a clever rendering: “The monkeys stand for honesty / giraffes are insincere / and the elephants are kindly but they’re dumb…” Seldom are insects included among the popularized animals; their simplicity and lowness tends to ascribe no traits to them. But their lowness has attracted pensive poets who respect the humility of insects and derive insight from theseway of these creatures. In the West, the Ro ..read more

A characteristic of institutional religions, east and west, is consolidation of scripture and doctrine into ritual. This is especially conspicuous for Westerners seeing the evolution of Christianity into a set of founding narratives followed by evolution of doctrine and rote ritual, primary institutions of church and monasteries, and the providence of bishops, priests, abbots, and ..read more