“Solitude bestows an increase in something valuable. I can’t dismiss that idea. Solitude increased my perception. But here’s the tricky thing: when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. There was no audience, no one to perform for. There was no need to define myself. I became irrelevant.”
This is what Christopher Knight, the last true hermit, told Michael Finkel, author of A Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. Knight seems to imply that the valuable something he increasingly felt was a oneness with the holy (he said he didn’t believe in God), that place where meditation or centering prayer leads us. He claimed, however, that he did not ponder such thoughts very much. He might have believed he was irrelevant but that’s not my take on who we are. None of us is irrelevant, either to ourselves, to others, or to God, but then, I’m not a hermit, I just love solitude.
A true hermit had no need to be with others or to let anyone know he/she exists; no blogging, talking, or bragging about it! We only know about Knight’s 27 years in the Maine woods because Finkel, a journalist, was intrigued enough to pursue the news story. The story may not be relevant to Knight, but it is to me.
(This blog was hard to write, probably because I don’t know what I mean. After all, as I said, I’m not a hermit, but like Finkel, I’m intrigued by it.)
This is what Christopher Knight, the last true hermit, told Michael Finkel, author of A Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. Knight seems to imply that the valuable something he increasingly felt was a oneness with the holy (he said he didn’t believe in God), that place where meditation or centering prayer leads us. He claimed, however, that he did not ponder such thoughts very much. He might have believed he was irrelevant but that’s not my take on who we are. None of us is irrelevant, either to ourselves, to others, or to God, but then, I’m not a hermit, I just love solitude.
A true hermit had no need to be with others or to let anyone know he/she exists; no blogging, talking, or bragging about it! We only know about Knight’s 27 years in the Maine woods because Finkel, a journalist, was intrigued enough to pursue the news story. The story may not be relevant to Knight, but it is to me.
(This blog was hard to write, probably because I don’t know what I mean. After all, as I said, I’m not a hermit, but like Finkel, I’m intrigued by it.)