Definition of a Hermit
from Raven's Bread Ministries at: http://www.ravensbreadministries.com/
The simplest definition of a hermit is someone who lives alone by choice for spiritual reasons. This is a broad description of a hermit but separates the "people-haters" and una-bombers from the deeply spiritual individuals who are seeking a life of transparency to the divine. A Raven's Bread reader offered this description: "Solitaries are those who have been called to step aside. That call is so imperative one has little hope of ignoring it. But once embraced, there is true joy (after many inner battles) as one finds their true center and heart's desire. I love people – but my call to be a hermit has opened that love out into a different form of self-giving. My call has been to be a religious solitary, living a life of thanksgiving and adoration, self-sacrifice and renunciation, praying for souls I will never meet, offering myself for love of others." Many have emphasized that hermits are not selfish individualists who seek their own comfort and dislike human society. Rather they are passionate lovers who seek to bring balance to our world which, without a strong Center of spiritual individuals, threatens to fly apart.
from Raven's Bread Ministries at: http://www.ravensbreadministries.com/
The simplest definition of a hermit is someone who lives alone by choice for spiritual reasons. This is a broad description of a hermit but separates the "people-haters" and una-bombers from the deeply spiritual individuals who are seeking a life of transparency to the divine. A Raven's Bread reader offered this description: "Solitaries are those who have been called to step aside. That call is so imperative one has little hope of ignoring it. But once embraced, there is true joy (after many inner battles) as one finds their true center and heart's desire. I love people – but my call to be a hermit has opened that love out into a different form of self-giving. My call has been to be a religious solitary, living a life of thanksgiving and adoration, self-sacrifice and renunciation, praying for souls I will never meet, offering myself for love of others." Many have emphasized that hermits are not selfish individualists who seek their own comfort and dislike human society. Rather they are passionate lovers who seek to bring balance to our world which, without a strong Center of spiritual individuals, threatens to fly apart.