A Perk of Being a Hermit

There are many blessings and advantages in the hermit vocation. One is that of few contacts and conversations, so the hermit may ponder and strive, discern and ponder some more. Praise the Lord and ponder, ponder and grow.

Nothing is working on conversation, exterior and interior. Writing seems to fall somewhere in between.

The hermit has time to ponder, thanks be to God. The saints and angels assist in the pondering, if called upon. The guardian angel gives input even without being called upon. That is its mission for the care of the soul entrusted by God, assigned--angel to soul.

Nothing made it through the conversations with long-time friend, visiting from another area of the country. The other asked nothing to speak of certain issues the friend and family were having, reminding nothing that it was being asked, and so nothing did offer assistance yet still with trying to not refer to specific persons. At times it was not possible due to the specific nature of the help being asked of nothing. Yet nothing pointed out that the discussion is on the situation and possible ways of dealing with one so difficult, and to do so with love and respect and of keeping souls on the holy path. It went well. Nothing had to guard against repeating.

Then, back to Agnus Dei, awaiting heat subsiding toward evening. More mulch shoveling and spreading--and then folks connected with the building process next door arrived. The new house is lovely, and with new construction there are aways human errors (and many things done right--which we tend to forget!). It was toward the end of nothing's energy to work; twilight approaching....) The folks spoke of the errors and how upset--and mentioned a person connected with the builder.

The trigger flipped back two years, and nothing pulled it. "Oh no! Not that one!" --and mentioned the first name of the same person nothing had problems with.

The shot was fired. Just that fast. Tongue-jerk reaction. Since these folks do not know nothing, it did not explain it should not have spoken of the person. Instead, for now, nothing merely tried to come up with encouragement that the builder and those working for the builder will, of course, need to correct the error.

"But so-and-so doesn't return calls!" they said, "Yes, that was a problem experienced here, also. Just be persistent and try to contact someone above the person, or the actual workers. If necessary, give consequences that will occur if they do not repair their error."

Then nothing pointed out that all along the street have had various issues, and the other commented that yes, there are always problems no matter the builder. Nothing affirmed that we are all human and make human errors. But they can be corrected--or at least most, and we must always try to correct them.

Today is a new day in the Lord. Last night in examination of conscience, an exhausted and body-pained nothing reflected on the major perk of ponder time the Lord allows for hermits. It is a blessing to have the fewer contacts, as one can prepare for the known conversations to practice whatever virtues being worked on; and one can then ponder the results, make corrections, analyze what caused any pitfalls.

For nothing, the tongue-jerk reaction is something to guard against. And that occurs when nothing begins to converse more in a situation, and when nothing is tired or in too much pain. It is good to know this.

When a child, nothing saw a TV show on a summer night. Perhaps it was a "Twilight Zone" program. Perhaps it was a bit mature for nothing at that age, but it was a hot night, and the mother and older siblings were up later than usual. The scene was a man who talked too much, and his colleagues made a wager that if he would not talk for one year, they would pay him a reward of a huge amount of money. So the man agreed, and he was placed under constant observation in a room.

Toward the end of the year, he had not spoken. His colleagues began to say anything (awful news, reports of his wife's infidelity...) to get him to erupt and speak. He did not. When the year was up, the colleagues admitted they did not have the money to pay the man. It came out, by his writing on a piece of paper, that he had had his tongue removed so as to win the bet, as he very much needed and wanted that huge sum of money!

Now, this program made a major impact on nothing's memory, rising up at this time in which the behemoth sideways cross has been felled and ground to mulch. But the effort of silence from within and without continues--without the tongue surgically removed!

Another reminiscence is of a mystic of India, Hindu, named Ramana Maharshi. He simply stopped speaking and remained silent the rest of his life, excepting one interview he granted in later years to a man desiring to write a biography. Once, when commenting upon Ramana Maharshi, someone said, "That's not Christian to refuse to speak." Nothing pointed out that Ramana was not a Christian. But there are instances of Christian hermits and those in religious orders who do not speak--or not much. But they do speak some and would not refuse to speak if someone had a need for them to speak.

Anyway, it is interesting to consider the act of conversation, of words said, thought, written. Zacharias was made mute by the will of God, when he doubted (sarcastically?) the message of the angel regarding the coming birth of a son, John. Zacharias' response may have been one of those tongue-jerk reactions....

Nothing has pondered and written some ponderings on this blog. Now it must shovel mulch, for the man who brought it on his trailer, needs the trailer back later today. Must work before the heat increases. Another perk of being a hermit: flexibility in present moment tasks.