I’ll reflect on this more over time, but right now however the hermit want I think stems from three things:
1: sometimes I do not want to be observed - I want to be loud and dance silly and be messy or more generically just be in a state that does not match how I want to present myself, and equally I do not want my loudness, silliness, messiness, etc to impact or inconvinence others even if they’re too kind/tolerant to complain
2: I derive a lot of joy from learning and doing - be that replacing a toilet, raising chickens and eggs, creating a trail, cutting lumber and building a desk etc - and these activities are more complicated as part of a community and requires a level of communication and coordination that is hard for me
3: I want control to do things the way I think they should be done, and not have to submit to others that have power to overrule me within my dominion - I don’t mind yielding control and power in community spaces so long as I have the option to then exert that lost control within my dominion - say I’d like a koi pond, ideally I can convince the community to work together to make a koi pond, in the event the community does not wish a koi pond, I can create one within my dominion if I’m so inclined - likewise say the community does not want to maintain safe drinking water in a bid to lower community costs, I want the ability to create my own safe drinking water
Of course ideally all the members of the community, myself included, are aligned in the important things and willing to let accommodate individuality like in my examples - but when they don’t, and I think the reality is that for many things they won’t - is where the hermit cottage is valuable
I would like to live in a community where it was essentially a main street and a small urban area for the trades and business workers and surrounded by many cottages that support and contribute to those businesses and vice versa
I feel like I have a lot to offer to my community, and I have contributed in the past to my neighborhood and participate in events and meetings and projects - but still, I cannot play my music very loud, I cannot raise chickens or bees, I cannot go outside and feel alone without traveling for hours to a state forest, I cannot fix the broken street lamp outside my door on the sidewalk despite reporting it 5 months ago, etc
I’m thinking out loud - and happy for any input you have, and maybe I’m missing something you already know
I think a way to think of this is to think of many overlapping communities that you are part of, at many scales. Like, you are part of the global community, plus at least one regional community (states, bioregion, city), plus your local community (suburb, town), plus your local subculture(s), plus your broader family (maybe 2 or 3 of those), plus your immediate family or household, plus yourself, alone.
You don’t ever exist in only one of those, you always exist in all of them simultaneously (whether you like it or not). And you play a constant balancing act of responsibility to, contribution to, and benefiting from each of them. The way you weight the importance of each is somewhat up to you, and somewhat socially determined, but it can change a lot over time.
I’ll reflect on this more over time, but right now however the hermit want I think stems from three things:
1: sometimes I do not want to be observed - I want to be loud and dance silly and be messy or more generically just be in a state that does not match how I want to present myself, and equally I do not want my loudness, silliness, messiness, etc to impact or inconvinence others even if they’re too kind/tolerant to complain
2: I derive a lot of joy from learning and doing - be that replacing a toilet, raising chickens and eggs, creating a trail, cutting lumber and building a desk etc - and these activities are more complicated as part of a community and requires a level of communication and coordination that is hard for me
3: I want control to do things the way I think they should be done, and not have to submit to others that have power to overrule me within my dominion - I don’t mind yielding control and power in community spaces so long as I have the option to then exert that lost control within my dominion - say I’d like a koi pond, ideally I can convince the community to work together to make a koi pond, in the event the community does not wish a koi pond, I can create one within my dominion if I’m so inclined - likewise say the community does not want to maintain safe drinking water in a bid to lower community costs, I want the ability to create my own safe drinking water
Of course ideally all the members of the community, myself included, are aligned in the important things and willing to let accommodate individuality like in my examples - but when they don’t, and I think the reality is that for many things they won’t - is where the hermit cottage is valuable
I would like to live in a community where it was essentially a main street and a small urban area for the trades and business workers and surrounded by many cottages that support and contribute to those businesses and vice versa
I feel like I have a lot to offer to my community, and I have contributed in the past to my neighborhood and participate in events and meetings and projects - but still, I cannot play my music very loud, I cannot raise chickens or bees, I cannot go outside and feel alone without traveling for hours to a state forest, I cannot fix the broken street lamp outside my door on the sidewalk despite reporting it 5 months ago, etc
I’m thinking out loud - and happy for any input you have, and maybe I’m missing something you already know
I think a way to think of this is to think of many overlapping communities that you are part of, at many scales. Like, you are part of the global community, plus at least one regional community (states, bioregion, city), plus your local community (suburb, town), plus your local subculture(s), plus your broader family (maybe 2 or 3 of those), plus your immediate family or household, plus yourself, alone.
You don’t ever exist in only one of those, you always exist in all of them simultaneously (whether you like it or not). And you play a constant balancing act of responsibility to, contribution to, and benefiting from each of them. The way you weight the importance of each is somewhat up to you, and somewhat socially determined, but it can change a lot over time.