Other lovers of solitude might understand this. I’m quite certain there’s many a hermit out there who did not make a conscious decision to stop or limit contact with the world, but who just wandered off and didn’t wander back.

But, I admit, it really was fairly rude on my part to just drop off the end of the bloggosphere without explanation, and I do apologize to subscribers or other frequent visitors who wondered what happened.

Nothing happened.  I was not eaten by a bear. I just went about my hermit business and stopped communicating.

I think it started with the acquisition of a new computer. The transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 required a lot more time-consuming administrative manipulation than I was happy about. Until that purchase, I was actually almost ready to bite-the-bullet and get myself a smart phone. But the Windows 7 debacle turned me off. I started staying away from my computer (other than for essential business). I started questioning why on earth would I want a smart phone so I could communicate everywhere and all the time.

As I said, I didn’t make a conscious decision to stop surfing & blogging & tweeting, I just let my body make the decision for me. And my body decided to prioritize silence, serenity, peace, reading books, contemplation, meditation in nature, watching fall fall and winter close in - all with a spacious enough routine to easily adjust to nature’s rhythms – every day finding the time to partake of that other grand connectedness that has nothing to do with words and others and the internet.

I’d forgotten how much I love that disconnected connection. It’s so damned peaceful.

Griz and I are fine. We’ve learned a few new tricks – most associated with the truism that the key to healthy aging is good energy management – inward and outward. Our middle-aged cats have perfected this lesson. They spend more time napping and less time outdoors, especially in cold weather. But the length of their naps in no way diminishes the intensity of their playful moments, the lustre of their coats, or the profound depth of their melodious, loving purrs.

Tools-n-Gizmos is perking right along. It might be perking along almost too well for a two-person operation in which both persons would like to define themselves as “semi-retired.” But if Tools-n-Gizmos is any indication, our economy must be improving. People are buying the tooling with which to build things. And Griz and I are still having fun with it; and when you can combine income-generation with laughter, it doesn’t feel that much like work.

But the nicest thing about just being in timeless obscurity is this: it is remarkably angst-free. There’s a spaciousness in this quiet observation point that allows me to watch world events and reflect on them without the need to judge, take sides or necessarily even react. Even though I voted, I was able to watch all that vituperative mid-term election noise without letting it bother me (much). Even the paradigm-shifting Wikileaks-square-off between secrecy and transparency seems more like a profound natural evolution than the frightening Armageddon many try to make it. Without such dualities, how would we recognize non-duality, let alone aspire to it?

Perhaps I’ve become more mystical in my retreat into silence – or not.  I still read just as much fun fiction as philosophical prose. Most recently I entertained myself with Michael Crichton’s bawdy, swashbuckler Pirate Latitudes, then switched just as happily to Alan Watts’ profoundly beautiful (and surprisingly, often comically entertaining) The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who you Truly Are.

It’s that balance thing, you know.  Philosophy should really only evolve from a life of living, not just theorizing.  We learn about life by living it, enjoying it, making mistakes, and surviving the ups and down. We learn to transcend the drudgery of life by redefining drudgery as something else.  Realization may be nothing more than the the simple acknowledgement that the definitions are all up to each of us.

And then there’s mortality – which steps in and slaps you in the face no matter in what happy place you think you’ve landed. We just learned today that my sister’s husband died last evening – suddenly, without warning, with no serious pre-existing condition. After a wonderful, laughter-filled day with his wife of 38 years, a good dinner, and a start of the evening’s home movie, John just quietly slumped into his recliner and slipped away. The EMT’s tried hard, but John left. The gentleness of his departure in no way diminishes the trauma.

I know my sister is a strong, competent woman and she will be fine – eventually. But throughout this no-mascara day of doing what must be done, saying what must be said; the sharp grief of first notices with periodic, spontaneous eyeball leakage; and, because of our loss, absorption in a deep empathy for everyone else’s losses everywhere; I must never forget that some things don’t reside in my treasured haven of timelessness.

Total retreat from the truly human connections is rarely an option. The human connections include time, touch, communication, reporting, and responding. Time is the journey through which we travel together.  The concept of timelessness is a real stretch when the stomach feels hollowed out by the pain of a wounded heart.

Some things, like profound loss, can only be conquered through the passage of time. For those of us who loved John, this will be Day 1 of that particular passage.

Always strive to treat your loved ones as though it is their last day on earth – or your last day on earth.

Smokey the Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder

Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago,
the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite
Void gave a Discourse to all the assembled elements
and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings,
the flying beings, and the sitting beings — even grasses,
to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a
seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning
Enlightenment on the planet Earth.

“In some future time, there will be a continent called
America. It will have great centers of power called
such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur,
Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels
such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon
The human race in that era will get into troubles all over
its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of
its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature.”

“The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings
of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth.
My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and
granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that
future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure
the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger:
and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it.”

And he showed himself in his true form of

SMOKEY THE BEAR

A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and
watchful.

Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless
attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;

His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display — indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma;

Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a
civilization that claims to save but often destroys;

Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West, symbolic of the forces that guard the Wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth: all true paths lead through mountains –

With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of
those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind;

Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her;

Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs; smashing the worms of capitalism and
totalitarianism;

Indicating the Task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses, canned foods, universities, and shoes;
master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and fearlessly chop down the rotten
trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn the leftover trash.

Wrathful but Calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will
Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or
slander him,

HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.

Thus his great Mantra:

Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana
Sphataya hum traka ham nam

“I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED”

And he will protect those who love woods and rivers,
Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick
people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children:

And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR’S WAR SPELL:

DROWN THEIR BUTTS
CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
DROWN THEIR BUTTS
CRUSH THEIR BUTTS

And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out
with his vajra-shovel.

Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada.

Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.

Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.

Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.

Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at.

AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.

thus have we heard.

(may be reproduced free forever)

“I have a friend who feels sometimes that the world is hostile to human life – he says it chills us and kills us. But how could we be were it not for this planet that provided our very shape? Two conditions – gravity and a livable temperature range between freezing and boiling – have given us fluids and flesh. The trees we climb and the ground we walk on have given us five fingers and toes. The “place” (from the root plat, broad, spreading, flat) gave us far-seeing eyes, the streams and breezes gave us versatile tongues and whorly ears. The land gave us a stride, and the lake a dive. The amazement gave us our kind of mind. We should be thankful for that, and take nature’s stricter lessons with some grace.”                                        - Gary Snyder 

 

John Muir on Mt. Ritter…..by Gary Snyder

After scanning its face again and again,
I began to scale it, picking my holds
With intense caution. About half-way
To the top, I was suddenly brought to
A dead stop, with arms outspread
Clinging close to the face of the rock
Unable to move hand or foot
Either up or down. My doom
Appeared fixed. I MUST fall.
There would be a moment of
Bewilderment, and then,
A lifeless rumble down the cliff
To the glacier below.
My mind seemed to fill with a
Stifling smoke. This terrible eclipse
Lasted only a moment, when life blazed
Forth again with preternatural clearness.
I seemed suddenly to become possessed
Of a new sense. My trembling muscles
Became firm again, every rift and flaw in
The rock was seen as through a microscope,
My limbs moved with a positiveness and precision
With which I seemed to have
Nothing at all to do.

The connection is there for all of us – in any language, on our own or with help, no matter what color our holy book or science journal. Some find the connection through meditation or prayer; some while contemplating a spectacular starlit sky or holding a child; some only after experiencing a dramatic injury or other traumatic event.  The connection exists whether you intentionally seek it or not.  Sometimes the connection serendipitously finds you. The connection exists no matter how you define God, and even if you consider God a fiction.  If we spend our lives squabbling over the semantics and details, we can miss the value of the connection altogether.

In this beautiful TED talk, neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor talks about her discoveries as the result of her 1996 stroke:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More information about Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and her book, Stroke of Insight, is available at DrJillTaylor.com

Special thanks to Larry Glover at Wild Resiliency who reminded me of this TED talk in a beautiful, candid memorial post he wrote after the death of his father: A Father’s Lessons on Living and Dying.

A Word on Statistics

Out of every hundred people,

those who always know better:
fifty-two.

Unsure of every step:
almost all the rest.

Ready to help,
if it doesn’t take long:
forty-nine.

Always good,
because they cannot be otherwise:
four — well, maybe five.

Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.

Led to error
by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.

Those not to be messed with:
four-and-forty.

Living in constant fear
of someone or something:
seventy-seven.

Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.

Harmless alone,
turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.

Cruel
when forced by circumstances:
it’s better not to know,
not even approximately.

Wise in hindsight:
not many more
than wise in foresight.

Getting nothing out of life except things:
thirty
(though I would like to be wrong).

Balled up in pain
and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.

Those who are just:
quite a few, thirty-five.

But if it takes effort to understand:
three.

Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.

Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred—
a figure that has never varied yet.

-Wislawa Szymborska
(translated from Polish by Joanna Trzeciak)

via Psychologically Speaking

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Wherever human beings have been around and done their thing, you find rectangles.”

YouTube Video by markwatts02

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speaker: Alan Watts

Music: Svefn-G-Englar by Sigur Ros from Soundtrack to Vanilla Sky

Posted on YouTube by redliterocket4 (Matthew Segall)

Special thanks to Twitteur extraordinaire @gregorylent for tweeting the link to this video.

Living in nature can be demanding at times but the rewards are abundant. Staying spontaneous enough to stop all else and relish such serendipity promotes my sense of  personal balance. (Photos are icing.)

But hermits do seem to get a lot of bad press. I suppose the stigma stems from the human instinctual tendency to fear anything we don’t understand or can’t control. Internally-motivated people (introverts) tend to be both indecipherable and immalleable. You never know quite what they’re thinking, so you can’t get a good handle on how to motivate, control or change them.  Add to this a hermit’s clear demonstration of the ability to live in solitude, outside of the tribe – well, that’s just scary – especially for externally-motivated extroverts who thrive on interaction, value their people skills, and tend to believe those skills are the key to ruling  the world.  (As a matter of fact, extroverts actually do rule the world. Most politicians and, thus, world leaders are extroverts. Not many self-respecting  introverts can tolerate a life in politics.)

And,  of course, there are some extremely bad actors in hermit lore (UnabomerTed Kaczynski, Hansel & Gretel’s Witch, for example) who tarnish the hermit image rather deeply and indelibly.  But another reason negativity predominates the hermit image is that us more benign hermits tend to go about our hermit business without much noise or flash. We are  live-and-let-live types, not big self-promoters. As a result, there’s not much counter-balancing positive hermit data in the stream.

Should hermits organize to counter the bad press? Since many religious hermits are already somewhat organized, perhaps we just need a group for us secular types. I like the sound of a Weird Organization of Secular Hermits (W.O.O.S.H.)  It resonates with the sound of – well, just disappearing – and weird is perfect because us hermits know any organization of hermits just ain’t gonna happen. It’s not really part of our nature to join with others toward a common goal. We certainly wouldn’t do it for a cause as frivolous as worrying about what other people think of us. A pack or tribe of hermits really is an oxymoron. Conveniently, the domain name, WHOOSH, is already taken.

But it is probably a good thing some of us more positive hermits are blogging now. We’re unintentionally forming a little hermit cybertribe. Over time we may be able to counter some of the sillier hermit slander. And we can blog from the seclusion of our hermitages!

Hey, I may convince myself to keep blogging yet.

Even the mountain men had their rendezvous. We all benefit from some level of connectedness.

Unfortunately, blogs are the antithesis of closets.

This post is an experiment in exposure. Sometime early last month before weather (the conversational safety net) began to predominate my psyche and blog, I was going to add a couple of Most Memorable Hermits to my list, but I kept procrastinating because both are spiritual teachers and I have some fairly deep-seated inhibitions over “talking about religion.”  It is so easy to offend.

Now that I no longer have weather to hide behind, I’m stalled out again, so I’ve decided to just blat out some of my own beliefs first (to put what I say about the two hermits in context). I’ll then add the two hermits in rapid succession and see what happens.

Perhaps those I offend will forgive me.  Linear time is a bit illusory in the blogosphere, but perhaps by Sunday I’ll have deleted the posts, acquired a pseudonym, stopped blogging all together, or been struck down by lightning. Here goes:

I believe in an immanent and transcendent Divine Creative Field – universal consciousness, oneness, allness, some sort of divine essence – call it God if you want, I usually do not though I am not put off when others do.

I DO NOT believe in a pathologically megalomaniacal, vengeful bearded white dude sitting on a throne somewhere passing judgment on the behavior of humans and punishing any that don’t conform to his dictates.

Although I believe there are threads of positive, universal moral, ethical and spiritual truths to be found in the writings of all of Earth’s major religions, I DO NOT BELIEVE any one religion’s “Word of God” is more accurate than any other. I consider words themselves human constructs – when translated and politically redefined through generations of evolving circumstances, written works have been known to stray from the original – occasionally missing the author/speaker’s original intent completely.

I believe this Divine Creative Field is accessible to each one of us with or without religious hierarchy, ritual or dogma.

I believe in the eternal continuity of spirit (though not necessarily the continuance of individual identity). Spirit to me is energy – divine energy, the essence of creativity, peace, unconditional love, compassion and forgiveness – that which motivates us to transcend our animalistic instincts and be more  – call it a Soul if you want, I usually do not, though I am not put off when others do.

I believe in the power of forgiveness, love and compassion for ourselves and all others as the best path to understanding and transcending the way things have been, accepting the way things are and improving the way things will be.

I believe we all come into the world truly innocent (even the bad guys) – each and every one a perfect creation of the divine field – and after we get here, things go to hell or heaven, or any combination thereof, both of which exist, are accessible, and can be experienced and seen right here on Earth – no separate PLACES to go to.

I believe life is a learning opportunity for each of us. An opportunity in which we can choose to express the divine rather than the animalistic. Our individual responsibility for making those choices, every day, makes every day judgment day. To me, Immanent Divinity essentially means  “You are God.”  That  makes each of us eternally responsible – Karma by any other name.

I believe in the enormous power and potential of the intellect, reason and science. I also believe the intellect (and thus reason and science) can be inherently limited by (often unacknowledged) subjectivities. I support organizations such as The Institute of Noetic Sciences which attempt to integrate and bridge the gap between science and spirituality.

I believe no human, not scientist or religious leader, knows the absolute truth about what happens to us when we die. The ultimate commonality among all humans is we don’t get to find out that particular answer until we die ourselves. Since I believe there is some continuity of consciousness, I personally like to think the first thing that happens at death is we relax and have a good laugh – laugh at all the silly hoo-hah in which we were over-invested while alive. I look at death as an opportunity for an adventure of discovery. Of course, I don’t know anything for sure, so I acknowledge the possibilility that death is an absolute end – but if that is true, there’s still nothing to fear because there will be no way to mind being dead.

I think very few us get to feel like we got everything done before the moment of our death arrives. Therefore, I believe it is extremely important to express love, compassion and forgiveness right now – even before you get all that other stuff done.

I believe evolution is an vital element of creation.

I believe in the ultimate beauty and awesome power of nature which reminds us to practice humility and provides us with life’s playfield upon which we are granted the opportunity learn to do better.

I believe in inclusivity not exclusivity.

I believe in some universal and eternal connectedness of consciousness, including the extension of this connection beyond mortality of the individual. I believe this connectedness of consciousness is sometimes accessible to each of us and may account for many “unscientific” human psychic phenomena (PSI).

My belief in this universal connectedness includes some confidence in the concept of reincarnation – wherein one’s divine essence chooses to serially manifest as specific life forms within particular life circumstances to best address individual or collective karmic resolution and to grow spiritually. I tend to believe we incarnate and bond in groups (switching roles and relationships like playing different parts in a play). For me, this particular quirk of magical thinking empowers me to conquer grief over the loss of loved ones and forgive those who choose to play bad guys (whether they do it through ignorance, childhood programming, psychological deficit or simply to provide invaluable though uncomfortable lessons for the rest of us).

I believe animals are a part of this universal divine connectedness. I believe most animals are fully capable of experiencing and expressing emotions, including but not limited to love.

I practice meditation with some regularity.

I devote about 20 percent of my available reading hours to the investigation of spiritual and philosophical concepts.

I’m a pro-choice, feminist. (Ouch, that oughta alienate a few followers.) This, of course, excludes me from membership in most (though not all) religious organizations. However, if I was a joiner, I suppose I’d be a Taoist or a Unitarian, but I’m not a joiner. Although I understand and appreciate the value of fellowship and communion, my hermit nature resists participating.

I try to honor those threads of positivity common among the world’s major religions. I try to forgive those negative aberrations which recur so loudly when religions are used as tools of political power – locally, regionally, nationally or globally. I believe manipulative and oppressive regimes (religious or otherwise) are expressions of animalistic territoriality and have no relationship to divinity. I try not to judge others by their religious affiliations. I try not to judge entire religions by the bad behavior of a few loud fanatics within each fold.

I feel extremely fortunate to have been born into and reside in a society which actually values and legislates freedom of religion (though not freedom from religion). The discourse that results from the cultivation of this freedom aggravates me from time to time, and at other times seems just silly – but it is a variety of discourse that we should all prize – the option isn’t even available to much of the world’s population.

That’s the basics. I spilled out a lot more than I thought I would. Forgive me, if you can. If not, may you find peace within your system of belief.