Hermits, Mendicants, Contemplatives and Mystics

[Jhanananda]

May this thread serve to document the many hermits, mendicants, contemplatives and mystics that have touched our lives.

A hermit (adjectival form: eremitic or hermitic ) is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.[1]

In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament (i.e., the forty years wandering in the desert[2] that was meant to bring about a change of heart).

In the Christian tradition the eremitic life[3] is an early form of monastic living that preceded the monastic life in the cenobium. The Rule of St Benedict (ch. 1) lists hermits among four kinds of monks. In the Roman Catholic Church, in addition to hermits who are members of religious institutes, contemporary Roman Catholic Church law (canon 603) recognizes also consecrated hermits under the direction of their diocesan bishop as members of the Consecrated Life ("consecrated diocesan hermits"). The same is true in many parts of the Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church in the US, although in the canon law of the Episcopal Church they are referred to as "solitaries" rather than "hermits".

Often, both in religious and secular literature, the term "hermit" is also used loosely for any Christian living a secluded prayer-focused life, and sometimes interchangeably with anchorite/anchoress, recluse and "solitary". Other religions, for example, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, (Sufism) and Taoism, also have hermits in the sense of individuals living an ascetic form of life.

The term mendicant (from Latin: mendicans, "begging") refers to begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers or ascetics who rely exclusively on charity to survive.

In principle, mendicant orders or followers do not own property, either individually or collectively, and have taken a vow of poverty, in order that all their time and energy could be expended on practising or preaching their religion or way of life and serving the poor.

Many religious orders adhere to a mendicant way of life, including the Catholic mendicant orders, Hindu ascetics, some dervishes of Sufi Islam, and the monastic orders of Jainism and Buddhism. In the Catholic Church, followers of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic became known as mendicants, as they would beg for food while they preached to the villages.

While mendicants are the original type of monks in Buddhism and have a long history in Indian Hinduism and the countries which adapted Indian religious traditions, they didn't become widespread in Christianity until the High Middle Ages. The Way of a Pilgrim depicts the life of an Eastern Christian mendicant.

Contemplative, one who practices contemplation

Contemplation means "to admire something and think about it." The word contemplation comes from the Latin word contemplatio. Its root is also that of the Latin word templum, a piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, or a building for worship, derived either from Proto-Indo-European base *tem- "to cut", and so a "place reserved or cut out" or from the Proto-Indo-European base *temp- "to stretch", and thus referring to a cleared space in front of an altar.[1] The Latin word contemplatio was used to translate the Greek word θεωρία (theoria). In a religious sense, contemplation is usually a type of prayer or meditation.

Greek philosophy

Contemplation was an important part of the philosophy of Plato; Plato thought that through contemplation the soul may ascend to knowledge of the Form of the Good or other divine Forms.[2] Plotinus as a (neo)Platonic philosopher also expressed contemplation as the most critical of components for one to reach henosis. To Plotinus the highest contemplation was to experience the vision of God, the Monad or the One. Plotinus describes this experience in his works the Enneads. According to his student Porphyry, Plotinus stated that he had this experience of God four times.[3] Plotinus wrote about his experience in Enneads 6.9.xx....

Mystic, one who practices Mysticism

Mysticism (About this sound pronunciation (help·info)) is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on practices intended to nurture those experiences. Mysticism may be dualistic, maintaining a distinction between the self and the divine, or may be nondualistic.[1]

Such pursuit has long been an integral part of the religious life of humanity. Within established religion it has been explicitly expressed within monasticism, where rules governing the everyday life of monks and nuns provide a framework conducive to the cultivation of mystical states of consciousness.

In the contemporary usage "mysticism" has become an umbrella term[2], conflated with spirituality and esotericism.[3]

Practices associated with mysticism include meditation and contemplative prayer. Mysticism can be distinguished from ordinary religious belief by its emphasis on the direct personal experience of unique states of consciousness, particularly those of a transcendentally blissful character.

Etymology

"Mysticism" is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning "to conceal",[4] and its derivative μυστικός, mystikos, meaning 'an initiate'.

Nikita recently told me about Robert E. Harrill (February 2, 1893 – June 3, 1972), the Fort Fisher Hermit. Some people just cannot stand the stress of life any more, so they retreat into solitude.  Sometimes that solitude turns into mysticism.  I am not sure if the Fort Fisher Hermit was a mystic, but he was definitely a hermit.  Sadly he was murdered, but the New Hanover County coroner ruled the cause of death was a heart attack, even though Harrill had obviously been beaten to death.  But, that is the life of hermits, mendicants and mystics.

Please post something about your favorite hermit, mendicant or mystic here.

[Jhanananda]

Recently Nikita experimented with sun drying some of the abundant produce that we have acquired from the various food banks.  It was very successful.  Plan to go into production soon.

[rougeleader115]

So, rougeleader115, if you just cannot stand the worldly life any more, then just give it up, and take up a full-time rigorous, self-ware contemplative life.  Become a mendicant.  I can help you figure it out.

What would exactly constitute "a full-time rigorous, self-aware contemplative life"? Is this mainly the following of the Eightfold Path? I am interested in how to make the mendicant life work, but I'm not certain where to start. I am close to getting my associates degree if I finish my courses by the end of the coming summer.

[Jhanon]

The mendicant life is much simpler than that--at least it has been when I've had the luxury to live it in the past. You don't work or do anything but spend time in nature, meditate, maybe write and do other divine-inspired art, and live off your ingenuity and the charity of others. It may sound extreme, but even when I wasn't reaching jhana it was still a sublime relief.

However, when I return to it again as soon as I can, I want to find a way to actually stay out in nature away from society full-time, like Jhananda has in the past. Without a quality backing of genuine mystics, it seems challenging to make the long nature retreats a part of the deal. I would also like guidance on how to make the specifics work and where to start.

[Jhanon]

I should add something interesting and encouraging that we have discussed recently on other threads.


When it comes to worldly life like school, careers, and growing finances, it seems everything is against me (and indeed others.) But for some reason, and I think it is because of the benevolence of nature to help advance evolution, living the life described just above tends to just fall together most of the time. At least in my experience, I have always gotten what I need. This is also a huge relief from the constant rat race of typical western life. For me, it actually felt like someone was watching out for me, and even encouraging me forward in my practice. I wouldn't mention this unless it was a persistent experience of my time living as a mendicant.

[Jhanananda]

What would exactly constitute "a full-time rigorous, self-aware contemplative life"? Is this mainly the following of the Eightfold Path? I am interested in how to make the mendicant life work, but I'm not certain where to start. I am close to getting my associates degree if I finish my courses by the end of the coming summer.

As you can see rougeleader115, and Jhanon, I have split this thread off and merged it with "Hermits, Mendicants, Contemplatives and Mystics."  If you read through the thread you might get a better idea of what the mendicant life is about.

You can also review my early contemplative journal, which was about my mendicant life.
Jhanananda-s Journal

[Jhanon]

When I read the last of your post showing access to your journal, my eyes went wide. I'm so pleased to read it.

Thank you for providing this treasure. You often encourage us to read the work of genuine mystics instead of commentaries. Well I like reading about this mystic, Jhananda.

Let it suffice to say that many times you have written or experienced things which I have previously intuited as important. You or what you've done is explaining and expounding on what this mind seems to have found important, compelling, or in other ways somehow attractive over many previous years.

I am sorry if you are not finding enough time to work on your book--though I hope your presence on the forum lately is a sign that you are. I look forward to learning more about "Fragrance of Enlightenment" as I catch up on your whole journal--though I am aware this is not the book you are currently working on. The title reminds me of the bit of "poetry" I recently posted. It seems this book at least loosely refers to the one I am most greatly anticipating from you--even if it currently doesn't look to be coming.

 I continue to have seemingly unprovoked thoughts (insights?) about writing a book to guide the future generations. Bits of the book come to me--or even the layout. Maybe my observation is poor and it is just regular thoughts. But the draw toward getting one out there is strong.

Note: I agree with Jhananda that seed gathering would work very well for subsistence of the north American contemplative. Interesting that the journal entries I refer to here are of a plant species I have previous interest in: prickly poppy. I wish to find if Jhananda still has connections with Rick and if it is a possible solution at present. I admit I feel very hopeful. The thought of gathering seeds from meadows of this or other plants makes my heart warm.

[rougeleader115]

When I read the last of your post showing access to your journal, my eyes went wide. I'm so pleased to read it.

Thank you for providing this treasure. You often encourage us to read the work of genuine mystics instead of commentaries. Well I like reading about this mystic, Jhananda.

Let it suffice to say that many times you have written or experienced things which I have previously intuited as important. You or what you've done is explaining and expounding on what this mind seems to have found important, compelling, or in other ways somehow attractive over many previous years.

It is great to have a firsthand account of what it is like to live the mendicant/mystics life in these times. It doesn't seem easy but Jhanananda, you make it seem more possible to sustain than I had previously thought.

[Jhanananda]

When I read the last of your post showing access to your journal, my eyes went wide. I'm so pleased to read it.

Thank you for providing this treasure. You often encourage us to read the work of genuine mystics instead of commentaries. Well I like reading about this mystic, Jhananda.

Let it suffice to say that many times you have written or experienced things which I have previously intuited as important. You or what you've done is explaining and expounding on what this mind seems to have found important, compelling, or in other ways somehow attractive over many previous years.

It is great to have a firsthand account of what it is like to live the mendicant/mystics life in these times. It doesn't seem easy but Jhanananda, you make it seem more possible to sustain than I had previously thought.

Thank-you friends, Jhanon and rougeleader115.  The life of a mystic in any culture at any time is a difficult one, but it is possible in any time period to live such a lifestyle.  It takes many trials and errors, and learning from your mistakes to hone it.  My goals are:, since no religious institution has ever made it safe to be a mystic, then a mystic simply has to figure out a lifestyle that will support his or her religious experience.  The mendicant lifestyle seems to be the best solution for one person or a small group.

On the other hand if a group of people could come together to support each other in a lifestyle to is conducive to being a mystic, then I believe that is best.  However, there are just not that many people who are willing to even cultivate the religious experience, nor support those who wish to.

[Michel]

I live the life of a hermit in a six unit row house townhouse complex, deep in suburbia, which I like to call 'vacuum land'. I live alone on a small disability pension, and rarely go out of my 3 bedroom unit. I get exercise by walking briskly around the unit every hour. I walk a total of 2 kilometres this way, every day. I do walking meditation as well. I'm on good terms with my neighbours; I  greet them with a pleasant hello, and they respond in kind - I discourage anything beyond that, and they respect my solitude. I order my groceries online, and get them delivered every month. I buy everything else online as well. I do not wish to have any friends, and I'm celibate, since they would both impact my practice negatively. I have few family responsibilities: I have a brother and a 90 year-old mother. I see her on Christmas, and Thanksgiving, and I talk to her everyday on the phone, and my brother drives me to various doctor's appointments. My brother and I have few things to say to each other, other than family business. The family and the psychiatrist think my lack of social interest is a sure sign of bipolar illness, as they like to call it. I am content to be part of this online forum. I don't need anything else. I do love being out in the forest, and I would live there if I could. If I owned a car, I'd go out to the forest and develop a relationship with the crows and ravens. I am happy to be a recluse, it's a good way to live. I think this is a good way to practice the Noble Eightfold Path, but I recognize that there are probably much better ways of practice, as mentioned above.

[Jhanananda]

Michel, it sounds to me like you have found as functional an existence as a dedicated contemplative as any one I have met.  Keep on keeping on.

[Jhanananda]

Thank you, Jhananda. I agree. I find myself thinking about ways to make it work. Publish a book, use the proceeds toward establishing a physical location with the necessities for the GWV sangha to practice. Even self-publishing on Kindle might work. Or maybe we'll need many books from different GWV members which all discuss the salient jhana-driven facets of the practice.

Yes, I had thought that contemplative who had found this model suited them would write books, and there would be a collection of contemplatives who have found attainment under the shelter of the GWV.  Perhaps it will still come, and perhaps there will be a market for them, instead of all of the self-help, think-and-grow-rich, and life-mate books that abound on the New Age shelves at the books store.

I don't even know where I'll find shelter in the coming months. But somehow I need to find some level of routine stability and time so that I can work on a book. Even just cranking out a short one is better than nothing. I mean--have you read some of those commentaries!? They dance in circles, rarely mentioning anything of actual use for practice. I must have read 25 books just looking for clues into jhana.

Shelter.. what a nice word, I got Social Anxiety Disorder, and a shelter is all I want.

I chose to reply to these comments under the mendicant thread, because that is the subject.

I agree Ichigo shelter is needed, and it can easily be had with some planning and forethought.  As you all know I have lived in a van for about 10 years.  I have found vans to be very useful for living it.  A pickup truck with a camper is useful as well.

If a mendicant is to live in a vehicle, then one needs a vehicle that is both reliable and economical. The German diesel vehicles from the 80s are often cheap, and will get 45 MPG, although the parts are getting hard to find, junkyard often have the part you need.  One has to be handy, have tools, and a small amount of money in the bank to keep a vehicle running. 

If you are yet strong, then you can day-labor work in almost any community.  It will be hard work, but you can make $100 in a day.  So you can work one day and rest for 6 days.

Otherwise, a touring bike that is fully outfitted with paniers front and back, and camping gear, plus the small tools needed to repair it, and spare tubes, is a very economical to maintain, and one can ride across North America on it, if one was so inclined.

Or, a simple backpack with a small tent, and sleeping bag, and camping gear will suffice to keep one warm and dry.  One always needs a backup plan when one takes up the mendicant life. So, I have both a touring bike and a backpack, and lightweight camping gear.

I really want to get us all out of our life situations and into the wilderness together. Because when I even just spend time with someone who genuinely practices, I feel at ease. But there is just so few of us out there. And when we combine that with nature, it is all much easier to bare.

I would like that to.  I have the ability to provide diesel fuel for several vehicles, and there are places to camp all round here, and there are food banks.

[Jhanananda]

Here is the life story of hermit I recently became aware of:

Bernard Wheatley, Black American Hermit

The story of Bernard Wheatley (1919-1991) is notable because he was a black American and a physician, but left his career, moving to Hawaii to become a hermit. Reprint of an article about Bernard Wheatley in Ebony Magazine, December, 1959. Includes many captioned photos not reprinted here. Available from Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=-afILxQ2isIC&lpg=PA6&dq=science&pg=PA29#v

[Jhanananda]

Grigori Rasputin, Born 21 January 1869, Died 17 December 1916 (aged 47).
Mystics are often times demonized.  It strikes me that someone who makes a career out of being a "peasant, mystical faith healer and a trusted friend" is hardly someone who is capable of evil.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин; IPA: [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn];[1] 21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916[2]) was a Russian peasant, mystical faith healer and a trusted friend to the Tsar's family. He became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg, especially after August 1915 when Tsar Nicholas II took command of the army at the front.

There is much uncertainty over Rasputin's life and the degree of influence he exerted over the shy and irresolute Tsar and the strong-willed Alexandra Feodorovna, his wife. Accounts are often based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend.[note 1] While his influence and position may have been exaggerated, historians agree that his presence played a significant role in the increasing unpopularity of the Imperial couple, and is connected with the downfall of the Russian Monarchy. Rasputin was (assassinated) as he was seen by both the left and right to be the root cause of Russia's despair during World War I.

On 2 February 1887 Rasputin married Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina (1866-1936), and together the couple had three children: Dmitri, Varvara and Maria; two earlier sons died young. [note 3] In 1892 [14] Rasputin abruptly left his village, his wife, children and parents. He spent several months in a monastery in Verkhoturye; Spiridovich suggested after the death of a child,[15] but the monastery was enlarged in those years to receive more pilgrims.[16] Outside the monastery lived a hermit by the name of Brother Makary. Makary had a strong influence on Rasputin, which led to Grigori's giving up drinking and eating meat. When he arrived home he had become a zealous convert.

Rasputin's claimed vision of Our Lady of Kazan turned him towards the life of a religious mystic. Around 1893 he travelled to Mount Athos, but left shocked and profoundly disillusioned, as he told Makary.

By 1900 Rasputin was identified as a strannik, a religious wanderer,[21] although he always went home to help his family with sowing and the harvest. He was regarded as a starets ("elder") or a yurodiviy ("holy fool")[22] by his followers. Rasputin did not consider himself to be a starets,[14] who were usually older and lived in seclusion and silence. According to Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden he was a starets in making.

In 1902 private gatherings in his house had to be disbanded.

In 1903 Rasputin spent some time in Kiev, where he visited the Monastery of the Caves. In Kazan he attracted the attention of the bishop and members of the upper class.

Rasputin then travelled to the capital to meet with John of Kronstadt and acquire donations for the construction of the village church. Pierre Gilliard writes that Rasputin arrived in 1905

asputin stayed at Alexander Nevsky Lavra; there he met with Hermogenes and Theophanes of Poltava who was amazed by his tenacious memory and psychological perspicacity. He was invited by Milica of Montenegro and her sister Anastasia, who were interested in Persian mysticism,[33] spiritism and occultism. On 1 November 1905 (O.S.) Milica presented Rasputin to Tsar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra.

In October 1906, at the request of the Tsar, Rasputin paid a visit to the wounded daughter of the next prime minister, Pyotr Stolypin. A few weeks before, 29 people had been killed after a bomb attack, including one of Stolypin's children.

In April 1907 he was invited again to Tsarskoye Selo, this time to see Tsesarevich Alexei. The boy had received an injury which caused him painful bleeding. It was not publicly known (a state secret) that the heir to the throne had hemophilia B, a disorder that was widespread among European royalty.[note 4] When the doctors could not supply a cure, due to the lack of just one protein, the desperate Tsarina looked for other help. (When she was young she had lost her mother, her brother and her younger sister.) Rasputin was said to possess the ability to heal through prayer and was able to calm the parents and to give the boy some relief, in spite of the doctors' prediction that he would die. On the following day the Tsesarevich showed significant signs of recovery.

Pierre Gilliard,[41] the French historian Hélène Carrère d'Encausse[42] and Diarmuid Jeffreys, a journalist, speculated Rasputin's healing practice included halting the administration of aspirin, a pain-relieving analgesic available since 1899.[43] Aspirin has blood-thinning properties; it prevents clotting, and promotes bleeding which could have caused the hemarthrosis. The "wonder drug" would have worsened Alexei's joints' swelling and pain.

On 8 October 1912, Alexei received the last sacrament during another and particularly grave crisis (a swelling in the groin). The Romanovs were visiting their hunting retreat in Spała (then in Russian Poland). The desperate Tsarina turned to her lady-in-waiting and best friend Anna Vyrubova[46][47] to secure the help of the peasant healer, who at that time was out of favor. The next day, on 9 October, Rasputin responded and sent a short telegram, including the prophecy: "The little one will not die. Do not allow the doctors [c.q. Eugene Botkin and Vladimir Derevenko] to bother him too much."[48] His temperature dropped and the hematoma disappeared, but it took a year before he recovered.

Even before Rasputin's arrival, the upper class of St Petersburg had been widely influenced by mysticism. Individual aristocrats were reportedly obsessed with anything occult.[55] Alexandra had been meeting a succession of Russian "holy fools," hoping to find an intercessory with God.[56] Papus had visited Russia three times, in 1901, 1905, and 1906, serving the Tsar and Tsarina both as physician and occult consultant.[57] After Papus returned to France, Rasputin came into the picture. In those days Imperial Russia was confronted with a religious renaissance, a widespread interest in spiritual-ethical literature and non-conformist moral-spiritual movements, an upsurge in pilgrimage and other devotions to sacred spaces and objects. The "God-Seeking" were shaping their own ritual and spiritual lives (sometimes in the absence of clergy).

While fascinated by Rasputin in the beginning, the ruling class of St Petersburg began to turn against him as he had privileges no one else had, an easy access to the Imperial Family. In 1909, within four months, Rasputin had visited the Romanovs six times.[62] The press started a campaign against Rasputin...

Early 1911 the Tsar instructed Rasputin to join a group of pilgrims.[64] From Odessa they sailed to Constantinople, Patmos, Cyprus and Beirut. Around Lent 1911 Rasputin paid a visit to Jerusalem and the Holy Land.[65] On his way back he visited Iliodor who gathered huge crowds in Tsaritsyn, and met with a woman, called Guseva.

When Vladimir Kokovtsov became prime minister he asked the Tsar permission to authorize Rasputin's exile to Tobolsk, but Nicholas refused. "I know Rasputin too well to believe all the tittle-tattle about him."[75] Kokovtsov offered Rasputin 200,000 rubles, equaling $100,000, when he would leave the capital. Rasputin had become one of the most hated people in Russia.

There is little or no proof that he was a member of the Khlysty,[77] but Rasputin does appear to have been influenced by their practices.[78] He accepted some of their beliefs, for example those regarding sin as a necessary part of redemption.

After the Spała accident, where the careless Tsesarevich climbed into a boat and fell,[85] Rasputin regained influence at court and also in church affairs. His position as an intermediary had been dramatically validated,[86] but the Holy Synod frequently attacked Rasputin, accusing him of a variety of immoral or evil practices. Rasputin was variously accused of being a heretic, an erotomaniac or a pseudo-khlyst.[87] On 21 February 1913 Rodzianko ejected Rasputin from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan shortly before the celebration of 300 years of Romanov rule in Russia.

In May 1914 Rasputin had become an influential factor in Russian politics.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Rasputin spoke out against Russia going to war with Germany. He begged the Tsar to do everything in his power to avoid war.

While seldom meeting with Alexandra personally after the debate in the Duma, Rasputin had become her personal adviser through daily telephone calls or weekly meetings with Vyrubova. This was especially the case after August 1915[159] when the Emperor left Petrograd for Stavka at the front, leaving his wife Alexandra Feodorovna to act in his place. Duchess Vladimir wasn't the only one who feared the Empress would "be the sole ruler of Russia". For others Rasputin's personal influence over the Tsarina had become so great that it was he who ordered the destinies of Imperial Russia, while she compelled her weak husband to fulfill them.

In late 1915 Alexandra and Rasputin advised the Tsar in military strategies around Riga where the Germans were stopped.[163] It seems the two also dominated the Holy Synod. Rasputin was invited to see Alexei when the 11-year-old boy had another serious bleeding.

Rasputin was more multifaceted and more significant than the myths that grew up around him:

    Rasputin was neither a monk nor a saint; he never belonged to any order or religious sect,[311] but he impressed many people with his knowledge and ability to explain the Bible in an uncomplicated way.[312]
    It was widely believed that Rasputin had a gift for curing bodily ailments. "In the mind of the Tsarina, Rasputin was closely associated with the health of her son, and the welfare of the monarchy"[93] and eager to see him as a holy fool,[313][314][315] but his enemies saw him as a debauched religious charlatan and a lecher.
    Brian Moynahan describes him as "a complex figure, intelligent, ambitious, idle, generous to a fault, spiritual, and – utterly – amoral." He was an unusual mix, a muzhik, prophet and [at the end of his life] a party-goer.

According to Dominic Lieven "more rubbish has been written on Rasputin than on any other figure in Russian history".

Grigori Rasputin - The Mad Monk is not a very even treatment of Rasputin, because it echos most of the character assassination as fact.

[Michel]

10 Modern Day Hermits:

Japanese island man lives as naked hermit:

U.S. hermit arrested after 27 years in the wild: