A defense of hermits

Photo taken recently at a lake near my house

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

-Thoreau

Among both the dissident right and the collectivist left you will hear many people bemoan a lack of community. And for many this is probably true, if you work a conventional job in a cubicle farm and then go home to stare at your screen. If this is not what you want to be doing that is a lonely and depressing life. People who long for community should keep in mind though, that there are also those of us who long for solitude and peace & quiet. Those who seek solitude are pathologized by normies, the dissident right, and the left alike. Few people defend the hermit, but that is just what I am going to do here.

“Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.”

-Ryokan Japanese Zen Buddhist

So why would one desire solitude? Perhaps you are a writer, and you need stretches of alone time, just you and your computer, or typewriter, or notebook. It is hard to write with a lot of noise and distraction, this is why even people who live in urban areas go to a quiet cafe to write and just to think in general. If you are a serious about writing the hermit life actually makes a lot of sense.

Another reason one might want to be a hermit is to have an objective view of society. If you are wrapped up in a very social life in say the Catholic church or a political movement or party, your view of the world is warped by the desire to stay in good graces with that social group. This goes far in explaining for example how some on the right who claimed to be anti-censorship are suddenly pro censorship when their Ox of “supporting Israel,” is gored, for many people loyalty to their group is more important than consistency. A life of hermitude allows you to escape tribal affiliations, and gives you a clear view of the society you are embeded in. It is a clean sweeping away of the path forward to realizing ones projects like the ice broom in the game of curling.

“No man can rightfully be required to join, or support, an association whose protection he does not desire.”

― Lysander Spooner

This same principle applies in arranging ones home life. As a hermit you can arrange your house exactly as you like it. My own living room is set up as a recording studio, and on my walls are my strange artsy nature photos. The chance I could find another person who wants to live exactly this way is nearly zero. :-) If you can arrange it so you work at home on your own schedule your personal freedom is nearly absolute, and you can sleep in until noon if you like or arise with the dawn, it’s up to you, and you only.

Another reason to be a hermit is because you like to hike and have adventures in the woods more than you enjoy the drama of day to day interactions with people. Whether you find these interactions stressful and tiring, or simply monotonous and boring, living away from the strife and endless hustle of American society is good for the soul. So many conflicts in American society are conflicts between groups and their tribal views, that really have nothing to do with the individual and their unique perspective on the world. Many of the most wise people from Japanese Buddhist monks to early Christians, to poets and painters, and philosophers have spent at least some of their lives in the wilderness alone to clear their minds of confusion, and open themselves up to pure being.

“I am alone again and I want to be so; alone with the pure sky and open sea.”

-Nietzsche

All this is not disparage more social people, I get a social fabric is necessary if we want to maintain a high level of civilization, if high levels of civilization are your thing. But those of you who are a part of a political movement please keep in mind not everyone likes being a part a group, and leave a space in your utopia for the hermit in their cabin.

Imagine me not sad and lonely, but at peace having exited the rat race.

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