It’s been a minute since we did a fine distinction, so let’s do one tonight! We’re talking… “hermit” versus “anchorite,” the latter of which I’ve never even heard of before.
A hermit is someone who retires from society to live alone in the wilderness.
An anchorite is someone who retires from society to live inside an enclosed cell attached to a church.
Huh. So, at its most extreme, a hermit leaves society to live out in the wild, like in a cave, but in practice, it can even be a detached building on monastery property. But they exist alone.
An anchorage is literally attached to a church, often in the center of a town. They were walled off, apparently, and read their funeral rites as they did so, because they were considered dead to society. Wild. And there’s another version of this called a stylite, which means they lived alone up at the top of a tower.
A hermit lived alone apart. An anchorite lived alone within.
Wild. The things people do in the name of God…
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Back at it today, outlining for the next book. SO MUCH to do in that regard, but it was a very productive day. I’m getting there. Getting the rough outline down will be huge.
Work was quiet, which was nice. I was late for therapy, but I made it just in time. Joy continues to be normal. Liz is dancing in the bathroom right now, I can tell from the stomp stomps. Learning a dance, no doubt. She does that sometimes. She gets this rush of energy before bed, which is so funny, because I do the opposite. I shut down. Coops got an allergy injection. It was cold and cloudy today, which is odd for almost-June…but apparently next week it’s going to hit 107, so…yeah. Whiplash. Summer will come with a bang. I’ll enjoy the cool while I can.
Night night.