{"id":11320,"date":"2018-02-11T04:34:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T04:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=11320"},"modified":"2018-02-12T04:37:15","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T04:37:15","slug":"what-the-joyous-solitude-of-early-hermits-can-teach-us-about-being-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/what-the-joyous-solitude-of-early-hermits-can-teach-us-about-being-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"What the joyous solitude of early hermits can teach us about being alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Haines-Eitzen<\/a>, Cornell University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world, loneliness seems to have reached epidemic<\/a> proportions. Countless studies have highlighted the serious and negative impact that loneliness has on our health<\/a>, our sense of well-being, and our ability to thrive in an increasingly chaotic world. Most recently, the urgency of the problem led the U.K. to appoint a minister for loneliness<\/a>. Here in the U.S., winter is a particularly lonely time for elderly Americans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But loneliness (feeling alone) and solitude (being alone) are not the same thing. And lessons can be learned from those who have found solitude essential for inspiration. <\/p>\n

In praise of solitude<\/h2>\n

Solitude \u2013 being alone \u2013 has long been praised as a necessary condition for creativity<\/a>. Author Virginia Woolf, in her book \u201cA Room of One\u2019s Own,\u201d<\/a> offered an extended meditation on the writer\u2019s need for solitude. So did many poets. In their writings, May Sarton (\u201calone one is never lonely\u201d) and William Wordsworth (\u201cthe bliss of solitude\u201d) were especially eloquent in their praise of solitude<\/a>. Poet Marianne Moore has even argued that \u201cthe cure for loneliness is solitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

My research on the history of religious hermits<\/a> shows that there have long been individuals who seek solitude in remote and silent places, and there are many lessons to be learned from them. The etymological history of the word \u201chermit\u201d is itself telling: \u201cHermit\u201d comes from an ancient Greek word, \u201ceremos,\u201d<\/a> that means both a desolate and lonely place and a state of being alone.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n St. George of Choziba hermitage, Judean Desert, Israel.<\/span>
\n Kim Haines-Eitzen<\/span>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hermits exist in many of the world\u2019s major religious traditions<\/a>: They are individuals who choose temporary or permanent solitude in remote and isolated locations, such as mountains, caves and deserts<\/a>. These locations are frequently depicted as sites for revelation and transformation.<\/p>\n

Romantic longing of solitude<\/h2>\n

The emergence of hermits in early Christianity is particularly striking. <\/p>\n

When early Christians read their Bible, they found the word eremos<\/a> referring to places for important events: the stories of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness<\/a> for forty years, how Jesus went to a \u201clonely place\u201d to pray, or how he was tempted by the devil in the desert. These stories evoked images of remote landscapes that most Christians never visited. <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n St. George of Choziba monastery, Judean Desert, Israel.<\/span>
\n Kim Haines-Eitzen<\/span>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the fourth century, however, a monastic movement<\/a> emerged in Egypt, as some Christians began to withdraw permanently into \u201cthe desert.\u201d The harshness of a dry and barren landscape suited Christians eager to pursue an ascetic<\/a> life. <\/p>\n

A common theme in stories about early Christian desert hermits is a desire to leave the distractions of urban life and live a precarious existence in isolation in order to achieve holiness. <\/p>\n

The most famous Christian hermit was Antony, whose story was told by Athanasius<\/a>, the fourth-century bishop of Alexandria. As Athanasius tells it, Antony one day heard a passage from the Gospel of Matthew in his church:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIf you want to be perfect, go, sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and come follow me, and you will have treasure in heaven.\u201d (Matthew 19:21)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He felt the passage had spoken to him directly. <\/p>\n

Antony sold his property and departed for the desert. The story of Antony\u2019s withdrawal into the desert became an example for later Christians eager to pursue solitude and contemplation. Athanasius says that, in spite of his quest for solitude, the desert \u201cwas made a city\u201d<\/a> by visitors to Antony\u2019s hermitage and by monks who wished to emulate him. Antony needed to move into more and more remote areas to find the isolation he was seeking.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n St. Anthony visits St. Paul in the wilderness.<\/span>
\n Albrecht D\u00fcrer (Germany, Nuremberg), 1471-1528.<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The joy of loneliness<\/h2>\n

Eventually, forms of monasticism<\/a> developed that embraced both the solitary and the communal: Monasteries developed around communities of monks<\/a> in the mountains and canyons of Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. Nearby caves served as hermitages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Is there joy in loneliness?<\/span>
\n adrazahl<\/a>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This way of life was in keeping with what many Christians believed \u2013 that suffering<\/a> was necessary for salvation. They praised the hermits who rejected the comforts of city and adopted the communal life. To them, the hermits were models of holiness and, paradoxically, happiness. <\/p>\n

Loneliness was transformed into joy. Athansius describes Antony\u2019s face<\/a> as \u201cradiant\u201d after a long period of isolation. <\/p>\n

The lives of hermits may seem distant from our busy contemporary lives. But the romantic appeal of an unencumbered and undistracted life has not disappeared. Hermits in the 21st century come from all walks of life, religious<\/a> and secular<\/a>, but share with those from the past a longing for quiet solitude and simplicity.<\/p>\n

\"TheCould the wisdom of artists, poets, and religious hermits offer comfort in a time of loneliness today?<\/p>\n

Kim Haines-Eitzen<\/a>, Professor of Early Christianity, Cornell University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kim Haines-Eitzen, Cornell University In today\u2019s world, loneliness seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Countless studies have highlighted the serious and negative impact that loneliness has on our health, our sense of well-being, and our ability to thrive in an increasingly chaotic world. Most recently, the urgency of the problem led the U.K. to appoint […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2450],"tags":[2639,4013,4010,4014,4009,2224,4012,4011],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11322,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11320\/revisions\/11322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}