[1]Homepage

Accessibility links

    * [2]Skip to content
    * [3]Accessibility Help

  [4]BBC Account
  [5]Notifications
    * [6]Home
    * [7]News
    * [8]Sport
    * [9]Weather
    * [10]iPlayer
    * [11]Sounds
    * [12]CBBC
    * [13]CBeebies
    * [14]Food
    * [15]Bitesize
    * [16]Arts
    * [17]Taster
    * [18]Local
    * [19]Three
    * [20]Menu

  [21]Search
  Search the BBC ____________________ (BUTTON) Search the BBC

  (BUTTON)

  Menu
  Loading
  [22]Covid-19
  What hermits can teach us about isolation
  [23]Share using Email
  Share on Twitter
  Share on Facebook[24]Share on Linkedin
  [25]Share on Whatsapp
  By Hepzibah Anderson 18th April 2020
  We’re social animals, yet for some there’s a counter desire for
  solitude. Can the hermits of history and literature serve up any
  lockdown tips?
  L

  Long stretches of time spent entirely alone? Elaborate stratagems
  dreamt up to maximise self-sufficiency? Straggly hair in need of some
  serious salon time? Anyone currently on lockdown or self-isolating will
  likely be able to relate to these features of a hermit’s life and more.
  Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, even with screens permitting all
  manner of virtual connection, our homes can still feel as isolated as a
  recluse’s mountaintop eyrie. There’s one crucial difference, of course:
  unlike most of us, those legends of old chose their solitude.

  Evolutionary biology tells us that we’re social animals, genetically
  programmed to build relationships and communities in order to survive
  and to thrive. Yet throughout history, there is evidence of a counter
  desire, a largely unsung and often mistrusted need for isolation.
  Nothing illustrates this better than our enduring fascination with
  hermits both real and fictional, from poet [26]Emily Dickinson to
  billionaire [27]Howard Hughes and Dr Seuss’ [28]Grinch. In 18th Century
  Britain, landowners even built miniature classical temples in which to
  house men hired to play the part of so-called ornamental hermits.

  Monks, in the desert

  The word itself dates back to the 12th Century, and comes from the
  Greek word erēmia, meaning desert, a big clue to its religious roots.
  Paul of Thebes is widely regarded as the first hermit, fleeing
  anti-Christian persecution and a scheming relative to exist alone in
  the Egyptian desert from the age of 13 to his death in the year 314,
  aged 113. He lived in a cave, dining on bread delivered by a raven and
  dates from a palm in whose leaves he clothed himself. At the end of his
  life, he was visited by Anthony the Great, a monk who founded the
  Desert Fathers movement, drawing thousands to austere lives in the
  spartan landscape.

  Other religions have their own hermits. Hindu philosophers, Taoist
  poets, Jewish mystics – all have been known to retreat from society in
  order to devote themselves more wholly to their faith. There were
  women, too, among them Mary of Egypt, the patron saint of penitents,
  who isolated herself in order to atone for her insatiable carnal
  appetites. On the whole, though, holy women of the 4th and 5th
  Centuries lived in fledgling monasteries, and there is no escaping the
  gendered notions inherent in our images of hermits.
  [p089r445.jpg]

  Various religious faiths have had followers that retreated from the
  world to devote themselves more completely to their practice (Credit:
  Robert Wallis)

  Look to other cultures, and you’ll find that even early Buddhism’s
  chaste female wanderers, for example, were exceptions to the rule. Like
  the Hermit card in Tarot decks, we picture them male. In literature,
  the woman who opts for isolation tends to be at best a figure of pity,
  at worst, something more malevolent. Just contrast Charles Dickens’
  wretched [29]Miss Havisham or Charlotte Bronte’s original [30]madwoman
  in the attic with Daniel Defoe’s iconic castaway, [31]Robinson Crusoe.

  No time to be lonely

  Crusoe didn’t choose solitude, but he has nevertheless become its
  secular icon. It’s worth noting that he did find faith while stranded
  on his Caribbean island, ensuring that, heart-breaking laments
  notwithstanding, he never felt entirely alone. More pertinently to our
  contemporary plight, he kept himself really busy. You wouldn’t have
  caught him binge-streaming box sets; instead, he set about building his
  own home, growing food and taming wild goats.

  Defoe’s legendary loner also had another advantage: he was written into
  being before the concept of loneliness as we understand it today took
  off. Indeed, “loneliness” is a word that rarely appears at all in
  English before about 1800. That’s in part due to the cramped
  intergenerational lifestyles that people were forced to lead. Living
  alone, as so many of us now do, would have been almost unheard of.

As anyone who’s ever walked into a sea of unfamiliar faces at a crowded party
knows, there is a difference between feeling alone and being alone.

  Not that being alone is synonymous with loneliness. If we confuse the
  two, it’s probably because we live in a society in which being on your
  own continues to be used as a punishment, from toddler time-outs to
  solitary confinement. Yet as anyone who’s ever walked into a sea of
  unfamiliar faces at a crowded party knows, there is a difference
  between feeling alone and being alone.
  [p089r3vh.jpg]

  Daniel Defoe's fictional iconic castaway Robinson Crusoe was thrown
  into solitude after being shipwrecked on an island (Credit: MPI)

  Being on your own can in fact be calming and restorative. Even teens,
  one [32]study has found, are less self-conscious when they’re alone.
  Time spent with yourself gives you a clearer sense of who you are, and
  however discontented hermits are with the societies from which they
  walk, on some deep, peaceable level, they’re quite contented with
  themselves. As American philosopher [33]Henry David Thoreau confided:
  “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”

  Modern hermits

  Thoreau’s isolation has been greatly overstated. As it turns out, he
  hosted dinner parties at his pond-side Connecticut retreat and mum did
  his laundry, but he fuses multiple strands of hermit motivation: holing
  up for two years, two months and two days was at once a back-to-nature
  bid, striving for a life of monastic simplicity and also a means of
  focusing on his work.

In his 1935 essay ‘The Case for Hermits’, English writer GK Chesterton said
“If men do not have Solitude, they go mad”

  The creative benefits to be had from time spent alone are ample. Greek
  philosopher [34]Plato, who’s known as the first poet of solitude,
  insisted that he needed it to think. Making ‘The Case for Hermits’ in
  his 1935 essay, English writer [35]GK Chesterton was blunter: “If men
  do not have Solitude, they go mad,” he declared. Not for nothing did
  Virginia Woolf fantasise about that [36]room of her own and poet
  William Wordsworth [37]declare solitude “bliss”.

  But it’s our own 21st Century era that has seen the most pronounced
  moves to collectively retreat into our solitary cells. Even before the
  current pandemic hushed our cities, there was an emerging cultural
  vogue for celebrating [38]the joy of missing out by simply staying in.
  Japan has taken this to extremes with a growing population of
  [39]hikikomori, individuals who withdraw entirely from physical social
  interaction.
  [p089r4c8.jpg]

  Apps like Netflix and Deliveroo have given us less and less reason to
  leave our sanctuaries (Credit: Sean Gallup)

  Of course, technology now brings the world to our sofas. Thanks to the
  likes of Deliveroo and Netflix, we have less and less cause to leave
  our own sanctuaries. This has also meant that the life of even the most
  committed hermit isn’t what it once was. Consider [40]Mauro Morandi,
  who’s earnt himself a reputation as Italy’s Robinson Crusoe. The
  octogenarian remains the sole inhabitant of the island of Budelli, off
  the coast of Sardinia, where he spends a lot of time reading and
  thinking and collecting wood. One feature of his routine that’s changed
  in the 30-plus years he’s been there is Instagram, to which he uploads
  images for his 47,000 followers.

  Tame your goat

  The Greek word erēmia is in turn rooted in erēmos, meaning desolate.
  While a certain bleak emptiness can accompany unsought solitude, there
  is solace to be found even so. As Chesterton observed in that same
  essay of his: “It is in society that men quarrel with their friends; it
  is in solitude that they forgive them.” Nurture those replenished
  feelings of goodwill. In today’s terms, maybe [41]pick up the phone and
  have a chat. Remember, too, that being alone doesn’t mean you need feel
  lonely, especially not when staying apart is a course of action
  collectively undertaken.

  Hermits meditate on life’s deeper meaning but they’ve traditionally
  also chosen habitats in which keeping body and soul together is a daily
  challenge – and perhaps a welcome respite from the heavier intellectual
  work of answering the questions that tend to fill a silent void. Crusoe
  was particularly diligent when it came to the daily business of
  self-care. No wild goats to tame? Try sowing some seeds on your
  windowsill instead.

If you’ve ever wondered what echoes of long-forgotten longings and ambitions
you might hear within yourself were life only quiet enough, then now is the
time to find out

  Belief is what’s sustained many hermits over time – faith in the muse
  if not a religious deity. If you’ve ever wondered what echoes of
  long-forgotten longings and ambitions you might hear within yourself
  were life only quiet enough, then now is the time to find out –
  especially if you’re brave enough to switch off your internet
  connection.

  Finally, one of history’s rarer female hermit voices, the Christian
  mystic Julian of Norwich – who lived through the Black Death as a child
  and survived serious illness in adulthood – provides words to which we
  all, believers, agnostics and atheists alike, might cling: “All shall
  be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”
  [42]Share using Email
  Share on Twitter
  Share on Facebook[43]Share on Linkedin
  [44]Share on Whatsapp
  (BUTTON) Share
  Around the BBC

Explore the BBC

    * [45]Home
    * [46]News
    * [47]Sport
    * [48]Weather
    * [49]iPlayer
    * [50]Sounds
    * [51]CBBC
    * [52]CBeebies
    * [53]Food
    * [54]Bitesize
    * [55]Arts
    * [56]Taster
    * [57]Local
    * [58]Three

    * [59]Terms of Use
    * [60]About the BBC
    * [61]Privacy Policy
    * [62]Cookies
    * [63]Accessibility Help
    * [64]Parental Guidance
    * [65]Contact the BBC
    * [66]Get Personalised Newsletters

  Copyright © 2020 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of
  external sites. [67]Read about our approach to external linking.

References

  Visible links
  1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
  2. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation#orb-modules
  3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
  4. https://account.bbc.com/account
  5. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation
  6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
  7. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
  8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport
  9. https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather
 10. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
 11. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds
 12. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc
 13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
 14. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food
 15. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
 16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts
 17. https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster
 18. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/localnews
 19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree
 20. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation#orb-footer
 21. https://search.bbc.co.uk/search
 22. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/tags/covid-19
 23. mailto:?subject=Shared from BBC:What hermits can teach us about isolation&body=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation?ocid=ww.social.link.email
 24. https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation?ocid=ww.social.link.linkedin&title=What hermits can teach us about isolation
 25. whatsapp://send/?text=What hermits can teach us about isolation: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation?ocid=ww.social.link.whatsapp
 26. https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-dickinson/learn-more-2/faqs/
 27. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161205-was-howard-hughes-really-insane
 28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinch
 29. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zy9wnbk/revision/5
 30. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/loft-that-inspired-jane-eyres-madwoman-in-the-attic-open-for-public-tours-9661503.html
 31. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/30/100-best-books-robinson-crusoe
 32. https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01927.x
 33. https://www.thoreausociety.org/life-legacy
 34. https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/greatest_philosopher_plato.shtml
 35. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/07/the-back-of-the-world
 36. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/05/100-best-nonfiction-books-no-45-a-room-of-ones-own-by-virginia-woolf-shakespeares-sister-seton-beton
 37. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud
 38. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190718-jomo
 39. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190129-the-plight-of-japans-modern-hermits
 40. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-hermit-coronavirus/index.html
 41. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200408-coronavirus-how-lockdown-helps-those-who-fear-the-phone?ocid=global_worklife_rss
 42. mailto:?subject=Shared from BBC:What hermits can teach us about isolation&body=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation?ocid=ww.social.link.email
 43. https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation?ocid=ww.social.link.linkedin&title=What hermits can teach us about isolation
 44. whatsapp://send/?text=What hermits can teach us about isolation: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation?ocid=ww.social.link.whatsapp
 45. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
 46. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
 47. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport
 48. https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather
 49. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
 50. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds
 51. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc
 52. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
 53. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food
 54. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
 55. https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts
 56. https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster
 57. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/localnews
 58. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree
 59. https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/terms/
 60. https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc
 61. https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/privacy/
 62. https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/cookies/
 63. https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
 64. https://www.bbc.co.uk/guidance
 65. https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact
 66. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcnewsletter
 67. https://www.bbc.co.uk/help/web/links/

  Hidden links:
 69. https://www.bbc.com/worklife
 70. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=What%20hermits%20can%20teach%20us%20about%20isolation&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fworklife%2Farticle%2F20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation%3Focid%3Dww.social.link.twitter&via=BBC_Worklife
 71. https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fworklife%2Farticle%2F20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation%3Focid%3Dww.social.link.facebook&t=What%20hermits%20can%20teach%20us%20about%20isolation
 72. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=What%20hermits%20can%20teach%20us%20about%20isolation&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fworklife%2Farticle%2F20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation%3Focid%3Dww.social.link.twitter&via=BBC_Worklife
 73. https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fworklife%2Farticle%2F20200417-what-hermits-can-teach-us-about-isolation%3Focid%3Dww.social.link.facebook&t=What%20hermits%20can%20teach%20us%20about%20isolation

You are viewing proxied material from 1436.ninja. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.