Greetings traveller.
I am starting this new log today as a place where I can work out the various and sundry thoughts, concerns and inspirations I have that pertain to what some have called "spirituality" and others "philosophy". The two terms are not identical of course. But in my mind they overlap to a degree that I consider them to be at least of the same general order. The postings that follow will be my attempt to deeply consider various topics and issues in this vein as they happen to attract my attention.
I almost took the name "The Hermit's Desk" for this blog. I am not a Hermit, nor do I aspire to be one. But I will say that I greatly admire them. And in some way I think we are all Hermits of a sort. I mean we all have this solitary vocation of "being ourselves" don't we? The work that we have to do is ours alone. Yes, we work along side others. But ultimately, our work is our work. We do it ourselves or it does not get done. So I guess I see the Hermit as a kind of spiritual hero/adventurer, role model and guide. Someone who is out ahead of us blazing "the inward trail". And then I thought..."the Inward Trail"... now that's a good title for this little project!
I will finish for now with a pertinent quote from the late great Catholic monk and spiritual master, Thomas Merton, who said:
"Our real jouney in life is interior;
it is a matter of growth, deepening,
and of an ever greater surrender to the action of love and grace in our hearts".
Yes?
The Inward Trail?
Can you dig it?
I can dig it.
ReplyDeleteI view many hermits as those who have taken the jump from the safe confines of society into the unknown abyss. Little can be more terrifying to man than to be alone with his thoughts. Take a look at how in modern times we try to stifle them with any device and any distraction possible. They can undermine our faith in the world and in ourselves - and they can buttress it too. To be a Hermit does not necessarily require, in my mind, a physical alienation, but a mental one. To willfully remove oneself from the comforts of the known and accepted boundaries of human life and explore other paths - inward or otherwise - that is what the hermit/adventurer does.