Recluse

Hermit ( MHG einsidelære, lonely settle ) is the collective term for people who establish themselves alone with their ideas or their way of life even elected, be it geographically, socially or mentally.

Concept and history

The word hermit is a development of the Old High German sedal with meaning " seat " on the late Middle High German einsidelære, which itself as " alone, lonely settle " respectively reside compiling. However, it was at that time the term eremitae use, derived from the ancient Greek erēmítēs, which means " desert " but also " empty" and " uninhabited ".

The first hermits were living in the 3rd century Desert Fathers. They understood as a radical follower of Christ and sought to speak in protest against the gradual in their eyes secularization of the state church refuge in the solitude of the deserts of Egypt, Palestine and Syria. The hermit's life was ascetic, led in poverty and humility. Distractions and stimuli were radically kept away, just to be in dialogue with God. The key actions were to pray, meditate and penance.

The hermits as original Christian way of life was practiced until the 15th century and was highly regarded. In the late Middle Ages, especially the war made ​​it impossible to an eremitical way of being. In the 20th century, the form of life up to now regarded as backward in Europe experienced a rebirth thanks to reports of hermit in the Sahara. With Canon 603 hermits life as a consecrated life in 1983 as in force today amended the law book of the Roman Catholic Church, the Code of Canon Law, canon law recognized.

Today's meaning

The term hermit includes not only the religious hermit, but is transferable to all people who are geographically, mentally or socially distance themselves from the norm. Define the norm and thus to define a clear delineation of hermit, however, is difficult. It is a convertible and the zeitgeist subjected Convention. In every society there is a historically grown system officially set and tacitly accepted rules of lives. They range from general rules of conduct on the role provisions to mental agreement. Hermits live deliberately, despite knowledge of these standards according to their own values ​​and take the consequent loneliness to.

Geographical hermit provide a spatial distance between them and civilization. It can be a consciously chosen life, to escape into the solitude of the environment and its distractions and devote himself entirely to his actual task, or even the implied by the professional event, like the shepherds.

The social recluse prefers the solitude of the community. Reasons for this are:

• Their individual characteristics (such as introversion, slowness ), through which they do not comply with the spirit and the demands of their environment; they find a suitable counterpart for satisfactory interpersonal exchanges;

• Their criticism of the current standards, which leads to a break with the company, to an outer exit. In order to break free from the social constraints, the exterior dropouts are usually on everything predetermined his life, such as work and friends.

The mental hermit deviates from his ideas, views and ideas from the norm. Although his spiritual kingdom differs from the norm, but he is not looking to break with the society and respected imposed rules. The mental Einsiedlertum is an internal, mental process. There are two distinct types:

• A man of his time or his environment one step ahead, or commits only one not socially vorgebahnten way.

• The interior of dropouts (see inner emigration ) lives in a value system that he can not identify. Inwardly, he has broken with the outside world. However, he does not reveal his own values ​​and performs superficial continue a regular life.