Hermits
Subtitle: the insights of solitude
By: Peter France.
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Published: 1996
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: Spiritual life.; Hermits -- Biography.; Solitude.
Description: "Ours is an age obsessed by personal relationships. From cradle to grave we have a need to bond, or so we are told by psychiatrists and agony aunts who go on to insist that our capacity to form and retain attachments is a basic criterion of psychological health. When we discuss solitude, it tends to be in the context of 'the problem of loneliness'." "Yet in previous ages the capacity to seek fulfillment outside society has been admired and seen as a measure of discernment and inner security. Hermits build up great reputations, not only for asceticism and spirituality but for their insight into the human condition." "In this lucid and highly readable book, Peter France shows that these men and women still have something vitally important to say to a society that fears solitude. Tracing the history of hermits, from the Taoists and Ancient Greeks up to the present day, he provides fascinating accounts of the lives of some of those who have chosen to live apart, and the knowledge derived from their lives of contemplation: Diogenes and the Desert Fathers; the Russian startsy, Henry David Thoreau, Ramakrishna, Charles de Foucauld, Thomas Merton, and the American poet Robert Lax, a modern hermit who lives on an island in the Aegean. These accounts are interwoven and illuminated by extracts from the writings of hermits, from Thoreau's Walden journals to Thomas Merton's moving reflections on the fruits of solitary meditation." "Gracefully written, accessible and witty, Hermits opens out profound issues: the wisdom that emerges from solitude, and the constant human need, which has surfaced in all ages and all societies, to spend time alone."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes index.

Bibliography: p. 223-227.