Tall tales and other thoughts from storyteller, sailor and nomad Dennison Berwick. "Kuan Yin" is his 32-foot go-anywhere home.
Posted in Books/Language, Solitude on Apr 11th, 2010
Renewal in the Wilderness, A Spiritual Guide to Connecting with God in the Natural World by John Lionberger. Published in 2007 by Skylight Paths Publishing, Vermont.
Why is it so many of us find our spirits lifted in Nature and so often feel exhausted and unsatisfied in big urban sprawls? John Lionberger explores this question and [...]
Posted in Books/Language, Sailing, Solitude on Apr 4th, 2010
However fascinated any of us may be with the Arctic (and Antarctic), eager to watch TV specials and maybe one day to go there ourselves, few of us would think of sailing north at the end of the summer with the intention of being frozen into the ice to spend an Artic winter alone. Yet [...]
Posted in Life skills, Solitude on Mar 4th, 2010
If you haven’t already heard of the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, at the north-west tip of North America, chances are very good that you will be hearing a lot about the Reserve from oil companies and politicians pushing to get the area opened up to drilling for oil. But here’s a great new documentary about [...]
Posted in Solitude on Mar 3rd, 2010
I’ve written before about the “Hermit Writings of S” and posted his script in its entirety on this site. See here.
In order to bring his writings to a wider audience, I’m going to post extracts from the Hermit Writings according to various themes which he himself used as sub-titles. They’re intended as bite-sized chunks that [...]
Posted in Solitude on Feb 25th, 2010
I’ve written before about the “Hermit Writings of S” and posted his script in its entirety on this site. See here.
In order to bring his writings to a wider audience, I’m going to post extracts from the Hermit Writings according to various themes which he himself used as sub-titles. They’re intended as bite-sized chunks that [...]
Posted in Life skills, Solitude on Feb 8th, 2010
What is it that attracts people to a hermit? Though the image of a man or a woman who lives alone, disconnected from the attachments of the world, is often of an angry or deranged misantrope, the reality is more usually very different. One clear example is Robert E. Harrill who, at the age of [...]
Posted in Solitude on Jan 23rd, 2010
There’s a new video in homage to Willard Kitchener Macdonald, the hermit of Gully Lake in Nova Scotia, Canada. The four minute video features photos of Willard in his cabin, some stock photos of nature, and a few tantalizing news clippings and photos about his cabin being destroyed in a blaze. However, the main feature [...]
Posted in Books/Language, Solitude on Jan 6th, 2010
The Hermit Fathers; The Spirit Born by Fr. Samaan El Souriany
With all the strife in the Middle East today, it’s hard to remember that this was once the land of hermits and the founding centre of monasticism in the West.
Upper Egypt (ie. southern) had cenobitic or communal monastics; lower Egypt had hermits such as [...]
Posted in Life skills, Solitude on Jan 3rd, 2010
“A View from the Ridge” by Morris West
If you don’t immediately recall the name Morris West from reading some of his 20 novels, it’s almost certain that you’ve seen the films made from “The Shoes of the Fisherman” or “The Devil’s Advocate”.
Morris West sold many millions of books. His stories always had a spiritual dimension [...]
Posted in Solitude on Jan 3rd, 2010
Find a Retreat to Suit You – Trusting your own inner voice of calm
There are as many good reasons to go on a retreat as there are places in Canada offering specific programs or just quiet accommodation where your desire for solitude and calm will be respected. Common to all – and perhaps what separates [...]
"Serendipity" is the art of finding something valuable or delightful when you're not looking for it. It's how you might also define living life as an adventure - which is something I seek to do everyday - and accepting whatever happens.
