I think the point was, Merton wanted to be a 'famous hermit' – the guy, for all his insight, was conflicted.But not so unattainable? If someone can afford a studio apartment in NYC and works from home, to go out occasionally...![]()
I think the point was, Merton wanted to be a 'famous hermit' – the guy, for all his insight, was conflicted.But not so unattainable? If someone can afford a studio apartment in NYC and works from home, to go out occasionally...![]()
Each to his own.Aren't we all conflicted though?
To fully grasp the picture is beyond my scope, I didn't know the man. He does seem someone who wanted both worlds, as his critics point out, and his defenders ... defend.Not having read the book and only the one line to go by, it sounds to me like trying to isolate oneself in the midst of "hell."
Indeed, although I have to admit my sympathies lie with the lady in question ...And I hope it goes without saying how even attempting this isolation wrecks havoc on one's love life.
Like the guy who wrote the Catcher in the Rye...I think the point was, Merton wanted to be a 'famous hermit' – the guy, for all his insight, was conflicted.
Also the early Church Fathers, correct? Living as hermits or in the seemingly inconsistently named but real, hermit communities.But any of this requires a particular frame of mind, and in my experience that frame of mind is not common among people. Humans are gregarious social animals, and lone wolves tend to be shunned.
Yes, or even Martin Luther, sequestered in a non-descript room in the bowels of some castle where he could focus all of his energies on G!d's word without any distractions. Same concept.Also the early Church Fathers, correct? Living as hermits or in the seemingly inconsistently named but real, hermit communities.
But writing works for the ages and being famous because of itYes, or even Martin Luther, sequestered in a non-descript room in the bowels of some castle where he could focus all of his energies on G!d's word without any distractions. Same concept.
I really have no way to answer that... <shrug>But writing works for the ages and being famous because of it
Maybe Merton's true aspiration.
Do you think he achieved it?
If it were his ambition, perhaps he is famous enough to have met that goal... if it was indeed his goal...I really have no way to answer that... <shrug>
The Wilderness is forbidding, it is challenging, it is unfamiliar...it is scary. Most folks don't want to go there. Some romanticize about it. Some take a day trip or weekend to the woods or to stargaze, or to catch a sunrise/sunset over the ocean. Some rare few find a place of solace inside their own minds (and we usually commit them as insane). I think the best we can do under present circumstances is catch a fleeting glimpse.
With limited information I have no way of knowing. Seems to me fame and isolation are opposite ends of the spectrum, and why famous people complaining about the problems brought on by fame and intrusion of their privacy seems to me brought on by their own choices - deal with it.If it were his ambition, perhaps he is famous enough to have met that goal... if it was indeed his goal...
Or grow a garden...Survivalists spend years learning how to (mostly not) survive in the wilderness.
Other people just go camping.
Or try to keep a farm going.With limited information I have no way of knowing. Seems to me fame and isolation are opposite ends of the spectrum, and why famous people complaining about the problems brought on by fame and intrusion of their privacy seems to me brought on by their own choices - deal with it.
Or grow a garden...
Be careful what you pray for...you might get it.But back to the fame, I think many people are not prepared for the price of fame.
They want the recognition or glamor but don't know the cost. Or any of the downside.
Some people never wanted the glamor or recognition but do great work that gets an audience and then-- gulp!
In terms of fame... some people get famous or at least lose their privacy because someone adjacent to them gets famous (think children of celebrities) or something makes their field more high-profile. And remember the events in the world of ice skating leading up to the 1994 Winter Olympics? And the criminal investigation that followed? That Olympics got more attention than it normally would, and lingered in the media for months. During the Olympics and for years afterward, ice skaters who were nowhere close to winning became household names due to the media coverage and the subsequent boom to ice skating as a form of entertainment (aided by the Hollywood writer's strike, and I think some kind of strike affecting baseball and hockey during that same time period... nothing on TV but ice skating for a time. Woe to 10th place finishers who had hoped for only a role in a once obscure hobby! [obscure for decades for anybody but gold medalists] Famous now!)Be careful what you pray for...you might get it.
And of course there are people of conscience who become whistleblowers... then their lives as anonymous citizens are blown.Be careful what you pray for...you might get it.
JD Salinger...famous for being a recluseLike the guy who wrote the Catcher in the Rye...
And a famous one at that!JD Salinger...famous for being a recluse
The Desert Fathers, I think you mean ... the Church Fathers were Churchmen, some were monks, but not particularly hermits.Also the early Church Fathers, correct? Living as hermits or in the seemingly inconsistently named but real, hermit communities.
I only laugh because I heard it was a latrine ... he did his thinking in the loo, it seems he suffered from an intestinal; disorder, but that could be Catlick propaganda.Yes, or even Martin Luther, sequestered in a non-descript room in the bowels of some castle where he could focus all of his energies on G!d's word without any distractions. Same concept.
I think the 'dark night of the soul' corresponds here ... and of course, one can experience the wilderness in the middle of a city.The Wilderness is forbidding, it is challenging, it is unfamiliar...it is scary. Most folks don't want to go there.
That's not the wilderness as I understand it, nor you, I think. As you say, a romanticism.Some romanticize about it. Some take a day trip or weekend to the woods or to stargaze, or to catch a sunrise/sunset over the ocean...