Sunset over Iona © Marian Van Eyk McCain 1997

Eco-Hermits: an exploration..................

My life is a tree,
Yoke-fellow of the Earth;
Pledged
By roots too deep for remembrance
To stand against the storm
To fill my place
(But high in the branches of my green tree there is a wild bird singing:
Wind-free are the wings of my bird: She hath no mortal nest)
Karle Wilson Baker

Hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) 

The term 'eco-hermit' seems best to describe what was my way of life until very recently. Even now I choose to live, and to spend much time, alone. But the spirit of community which has developed in my immediate neighbourhood is truly wonderful, and I have been made very much a part of this by neighbours and fellow- gardeners, many of whom have become dear friends.

To quote the modern American spiritual writer Thomas Moore:¹
"I don’t think a community consists in people gathering together because they think alike. I think the best communities are groups of people who don’t think alike, who are individuals and therefore able to really love each other and be together and tolerate each other, and allow each other to go in their own directions. You end up with a real sense of community then."

In these times, when the one-person household is becoming more and more common, we need to distinguish between Hermits, and those who live alone because they have no choice, or who do so because they prefer their own space, but who have no commitment to the solitary life as a way of living more closely with the Divine.
To people who ask me: "What is a Hermit?" I offer the following very personal exploration. Having myself always been attracted by the solitary life, I have done a fair bit of research and deliberation on the subject over the years.

When looking at the lives of many hermits past and present, they seem to me to have certain things in common. In addition, I have added personal comments and views, which apply to my particular situation.

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Hermits choose to live and spend most of their time apart from other people.
Since many hermits, myself included, have a non-human companion, or live in close communication with wild things, the term "alone" is hardly appropriate. 

Hermits have a constant awareness of dimensions of human life besides the material.

Hermits live simply, so as to be free to interact deeply with these dimensions. 

Hermits are committed to living in a way that expresses their convictions in practical terms in everyday life. 

Hermits have a deep conviction of the usefulness and power of silent contemplative prayer.

To me, "walking my talk" is itself a prayer. As John Seed, founder of the Rainforest Information Centre, once said, in an interview with Ram Dass: ²
"Unless you save the whole thing (the Earth), you can't save any of the pieces. So any attempt to be saving a little piece here and a little piece there can only be seen as a kind of prayer."
I also do my best to practice what is called 'Mindfulness' by several traditions.

Over the many years during which I actively shared my outlook and skills, it became very clear that even those who specifically ask for information can find it hard to accept, let alone implement, if it involves inconvenience, and/or challenges their current worldview.

• "In some cultures, the Hermit was seen as an essential part of the social structure of a community, and was kept (supported) by the village."(Celtic tradition)
• "Living alone.....provides one with the opportunity to feel very close to others, close to people in heart and soul.
  To open my heart and soul to people, to be fully in communion with them."
• "In many societies the Hermit is a kind of spiritual barometer."
• "People have said to me: 'I'm not really religious, but it's nice to know that you're there'."
• "The hermit life does not seem to some very productive. We pray in faith, we pray because it seems the right thing to do, we let go of any idea of spiritual reward...."
• "If you think that by becoming a hermit you can get away from yourself, you couldn't be more wrong...."
• "God takes the initiative, and you become more and more receptive. It's a process of surrender.."'
• "I think prayer is the most political and most subversive force on this planet!"

Orthodox traditions maintain that it is not possible to become a hermit unless you have first spent a period of time in a religious order, becoming accustomed to the necessary disciplines, rituals, and theology. Not all belief systems, however, support a worldview in which the boundaries between life-forms are dissolved, and humans are no more important than anything else; in which the divine is reflected and revered by all beings.

I, and others like me, have gradually developed an idiosyncratic lifestyle through ideological conviction; to show solidarity with the oppressed and exploited earth and all her inhabitants; and through personal experience of the dissolving boundaries between inner and outer worlds, and between ourselves and other life-forms. All of which makes it easier, in fact, imperative to live, or to spend long periods, alone.

Vows involve a ritual expressing long-term commitment, but although I have, and still do, reflect upon the concept, I have not so far felt it necessary to take such a formal step. The traditional Christian vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience interest me because they appear supportive of ecological responsibility.
But they seem such a negative and life-denying way of expressing a choice of lifestyle which is privileged, joyful, and immensely satisfying.
The celebration of natural abundance results in a kind of hedonistic frugality which needs little money to support it. This for me replaces the concept of poverty.
Chastity is often confused with celibacy, but is not at all the same thing. Refraining from sexual activity does not automatically make one chaste.
I choose to live joyfully, but in ways that minimise causing pollution and unnecessary suffering to other life-forms .

"We underestimate damage
done to the sky
when we allow words
to slip away
into the clouds."
From Hillside, by Viggo Mortensen

Obedience is surely not blind submission to the will of another, but about serving the greater good while as far as possible maintaining personal integrity and self-discipline. This requires an ongoing development of one's powers of discernment and the deepening of self-knowledge, for all of which time spent alone is essential. It also demands that you be scrupulously, and therefore often painfully, honest with yourself. And if you are not watchful, self-examination and self-evaluation can easily develop into self-absorption.

In 1989 I decided to move from the country and commit myself to living in Public Housing in an inner city environment. I need constantly to re-affirm that commitment, because the noise, pollution, and worst of all, the spiritual poverty, of our cities increases daily. The majority of the world's people have no choice but to live in over-crowded cities, and cities have become the deserts of the soul. You are often, in fact, more alone in a city than in the countryside or the bush, and if you are senstive, you suffer, and can become extremely vulnerable. So in my own small way, I aspire to a rich life of the soul, lived in relatively uncongenial surroundings, joining my energy with that of many others to restore balance to the Earth. 

When I was allocated a tiny new house with an equally tiny garden, in a suburb close to the river and rich in trees and parklands, in what is among the most beautiful capital cities in the world, I therefore did much soul-searching before accepting it. I regarded it from the first as a sacred trust, and set about creating an earth sanctuary which now visibly affects the surrounding district, and whose energies I offer continually for the healing of the whole Earth.

"Await, allow, accept, attend" - Order of Julian of Norwich⁴

"The master does not seek fulfilment
Not seeking, not expecting,
She is present, and can welcome all things."
Tao te Ching, Stephen Mitchell translation. ⁵

©Margaret RainbowWeb Adelaide, August 2006. LINKS AND REFERENCES Margaret's Website - Re-Earthing The Cities  1. Thomas Moore, 2. John Seed/Ram Dass Interview 3. Albert Street Productions 4. Order Of Julian Of Norwich 5. Stephen Mitchell Translation Of Tao Te Ching

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Coming Back to the Breath by Gaea Yudron "They say Coyote dreamed up death but who dreamed birth up?' On the last push it felt as if the baby catapulted clear across the room. oh, I hope that somebody catches that baby I thought to myself and someone did. Next thing I knew the nurse an irritable old thing she could have used a massage someone making her a cup of tea maybe a couple of chocolates or just some serious Love beaming in the nurse says to me in an accusatory tone the baby’s breathing is irregular as if it is my fault. I wanted to tell her lady your breathing would probably be irregular too if you had just been born and you are not doing much positive with your breath as it is. Instead I told her you better bring me that baby. A word of advice: you can’t just lie down and let those medical folks walk all over you even if you did just give birth.

The nurse fussed a little, but she had to do it. right is right after all and that was right right as rain the way clouds move across the sky and the wind blows across the valley the river in its course and the grass in the sun that’s the way I held that baby and nursed her we breathed together breath after breath hour after hour until her breathing calmed and she got used to being in plain air. One thing I did right one unmistaken moment suffused with the deep peace of love. © Gaea Yudron 4/3/05-7/27/06