Late Summer 2021
The oak leaves have their mature deep green, leathery appearance. The fog has a gray cast, rather than the golden hue it somehow gathers in the spring and early summer. […]
Secular Monasticism
Rehumaning
Yup. After about a week of being eaten alive by bugs; shredded and impaled by raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, Devil’s walking stick, locusts, and greenbriar; endured thousands of demands from hungry […]
Feral
The dynamics of isolation are complex. As an extreme outlier on the introversion scale, as well as a practicing hermit, I’ve found myself alone for some significant time. I can […]
The Efficacy of Ego and the Dissolution of Self: Part 2
See Part 1 Considering humanity through history, it’s a big thing. What we call History- it’s characters and narratives- is a thin, subjective braid of what events and people have […]
The Efficacy of Ego and the Dissolution of Self: Part 1
See Part 2 When I grew up, I was most strongly influenced by my father. He was a thoughtful, quiet man, who believed his children were obligated to be the […]
Reintegration Blues
The COVID pandemic has killed, caused economic and social carnage, and continues to spawn variants with difficult to define powers. Yet, it has provided a near-obligatory opportunity for those who […]
Growth, Reflection, and Sharing
Happy Easter! It’s a holiday rife with far flung symbolisms, but it’s a certain recognition that Spring is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere! Today was particularly special for me […]
Steaks and Lollies
Organisms have an intimate and complex relationship with food. We not only literally take it into our bodies, but also we assimilate it into our own being. Additionally, it triggers […]
The Ever Present Suck of Media
You’ve reached the bottom of the rabbit hole’s gravity well; midway through your night’s journey, you’ve found yourself in a hermit’s blog. The internet has its pull. It preys with […]
The excitement never ends
March 22, a gorgeous Spring day. Cloudless clear skies, rapidly rising temps, and some outdoor work to do, but not much to worry about, so I thought. The much anticipated […]
Tender spots
Lately, I’ve been experiencing a bit more of people than I like. I’m finding that solitude makes each exposure more saturating and evocative. A dim LED shines brightly if your […]
COVID-19 and Mons Domus
Pre-COVID, I was making terribly slow progress on the main structure at Mons Domus, I’d had a medicore relationship that I finally gave up on, and was terribly disillusioned with […]
Routine and Discipline
Holy smokes, it’s been very hard to keep my routine lately. With COVID’s challenges being dynamic and it being a busy time of the year for my business, I am […]
Technology and Monasticism
… is the title of an unwritten dissertation. In my monastic experience, I’ve taken a tack that welcomes some tech and shuns others. I don’t think there’s a single approach […]
Postmodernism, quantum physics, and the unravelling of purpose.
Physics has been one of my favorite subjects since I was a kid and ignored much of second grade in favor of my science magazines. I started studying Physics and […]
Keeping the Routine in Check
Good morning! Today I might just be able to focus on and appreciate my solitude. I’m finding that maintaining my weekly routine is frequently disrupted, and though I can maintain […]
Lessons from Evolution in the age of Media
The term, “meme,” doesn’t only mean a snarky cat photo. The term was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book, The Selfish Gene, and was meant to reflect a much […]
The Protean Loneliness Machine
Some time ago, just under 4 billion years, relatively early in the planet’s existence, some bubbles gained certain unusual capacities involving the regulated shuffling of electrons and sustained frothiness. Distinct […]
Savoring Friendships
Hermits don’t get out much. But it isn’t uncommon for a hermit to have to run to the grocer, speak with a utility company person, or actually have a job […]
Introvert
While examining why I might be be drawn to an eremetic life, it was clear that introversion was a significant driver. I do my best thinking, my best caring, my […]
Small
Nothing that I could write is of an order of magnitude large enough to be visible in the shadows of the grand and foul machinations of our government. Perhaps that […]
Attempted coup and the mouse in my car.
Filters are important in most monastic endeavors. Selectively permitting the passage of information, and selectively permitting the information to be of impact. A matter of scale in the importance of […]
The making of a good habit.
Things at my business are a bit crazy. The business grows, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Usually January is dead (It’s a gardening business), but we’re in a […]
Making room for the rest of the week
Mondays are my days where I clear out business so I don’t have so much to worry about the rest of the week. Today, I picked up meds, took care […]
Resolutions 2021
New Years has always been a favorite time. It’s kind of like a birthday- a fresh start, a new cycle, but one where I’m willing to spoil the opportunity for […]
A Guest
For safety during the Pandemic, my son is staying in “The Shed” some of the time, where I lived when I was building the house. He’s a good guest, offering […]
A New Week
The Western week has two types of days. Weekday, and weekend days. The weekdays have subtle flavors depending upon their proximity to the coming weekend, but have similar expectations. In […]
7 Days
There’s this construct that never really made a lot of sense to me, the 7-day week. It seems this hinges upon the Babylonians’ observational talents, astute at the time, but […]
Errand Day
I cluster my errands as much as I can so that larger swaths of solitary time are maximized. Today, Mo went to the vet for his persistent foot infection, I […]
My First Hermitage
It was in 1991. I was in Lakewood, Ohio with a literally mangy rescue dog. Milton had passed mange on to me, and so we were both in recovery. I […]
Carbon and Celibacy
Monasticism is almost universally earmarked by sacrificing excess. In Christian Monasticism, one of the ‘excesses’ to get the boot is sex. To forego sex is to deny the carnal, in […]
Simplicity, and Stuff
The quest for simplicity is a common thread in the life of monks and hermits. For me, such simplicity is worth pursuit for the clarity that I hope will come […]
A Brief History of (my) Solitude
About 50 years ago, in a well-to-do community near Detroit a child refused to be hugged. She didn’t speak, preferred the companionship of dogs, the confines of a hole she […]
Loneliness Prevention Plan, kind of.
Solitude can be peaceful, productive, and empowering, but there’s little to gain from loneliness, and much to lose. Loneliness erodes confidence, self worth and can lead one to compromise in […]
Grooving without Social Media
It’s been almost a week without facebook. I have to check my work account, but don’t exchange conversation with people or like stuff when doing that. It’s meant a good […]
A schedule? Oops, I mean a horarium?
Most monastic communities have a daily routine (Horarium, ho-RAR-ium) which is strictly adhered to. I have some time management issues. They stem from difficulty regulating focus. If I’m engaged in […]
With little more time.
A few days into the big media reduction shift, I’ve found I have some extra time. And I realize that I should update my routine. Here are somethings I’m thinking […]
Digital Media Reduction Plan
First Iteration My first serious go at Secular Monasticism was in the early 1990s. I didn’t have a computer, cellphone, or internet. Back then, I turned off my radio, cancelled […]
Once and again.
Years ago, as a young Atheist, I had a call to monasticism. Sounds peculiar, and indeed, it did at the time, as well! However strange, it was clear and compelling. […]