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A hermit, also known as an anchorite or anchoress, is a person living in voluntary seclusion, often for religious reasons.
Hermits in the past have most often lived in caves, forests, or deserts, but some of them preferred an isolated cell in a monastery. Male hermits are more common than female, a notable exception being a most famous English hermit, the anchoress Julian of Norwich.
Hermits in religion From a religious point of view, hermitism is a form of asceticism, wherein the hermit renounces wordly concerns and pleasures in order to come closer to the deity or deities they worship or revere. This practice appears in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. In ascetic hermitism, the hermit seeks solitude for meditation, contemplation, and prayer without the distractions of contact with human society, sex, or the need to maintain socially acceptable standards of cleanliness or dress. The ascetic discipline can also include a simplified diet and/or manual labor as a means of support; for example, the early Christian Desert Fathers often wove baskets to exchange for bread.
Ironically, religious hermits are often sought out for spiritual advice and counsel and may eventually acquire so many disciples that they have no solitude at all. Examples include Anthony the Great, who attracted such a large body of followers in the Egyptian desert that he is considered by the Orthodox to be the "Founder of Monasticism", and Gautama Buddha, who, having abandoned his family for a solitary quest for spiritual enlightenment, ended up as the founder of Buddhism.
One interesting variation of hermitism is the Carthusian order of Roman Catholic monks and nuns. Carthusians live in what are essentially "communities of hermits", each monastic having their own cell (with sleeping chamber, study, and workshop) where they spend all their time alone, except when they meet in church for worship.
Other religious hermits include Simeon Stylites, Herman of Alaska, Thomas Merton, Sergius of Radonezh, and Seraphim of Sarov.
Non-religious hermits It is also possible for people to forsake human society for reasons other than religious. For example, Henry David Thoreau spent two years living an essentially solitary life near Walden Pond in pursuit of a simple, environmentally-friendly life. In a somewhat more macabre case, Theodore Kaczynski, known as the "Unabomber", lived in a remote cabin in Montana which gave him both refuge from what he viewed as a society corrupted by technology and privacy to build mailbombs.
Hermits in philosophy Friedrich Nietzsche, in his influential work Thus Spoke Zarathustra, created the character of the hermit Zarathustra (named after the Zoroastrian prophet), who emerges from seclusion to extol his philosophy to the rest of humanity.
Diogenes the Cynic, an ancient Greek philosopher, led an ascetic life in a barrel. According to legend, when Alexander the Great came to him one day and offered to grant him a wish, Diogenes asked Alexander to step out of his sunlight.
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