Avoidance: often this can be the fundamental reason that an individual gravitates towards solitude, religious, or otherwise. We do not want to be in the presence of others, because it is there that we stand revealed - not only in their eyes, but in our own. In our interactions with others, we begin to see our dominant passions and the poverty of our sin. Our weak spots, blind spots and hard spots become perfectly evident to us. It is for this reason that the desert fathers counsel spending many years in the common life because it is there that true purification takes place. It is in our day-to-day struggle with the movement of our own thoughts and emotions and interactions with others, that sin is overcome and virtue begins to grow. To flee into solitude, prematurely, and even with the highest spiritual aspirations, promises only danger. It is perilous to enter into deep silence alone. If one falls, there is no one to pick them up. If one is swallowed up by delusion, there is no one to set them aright. How can we repent without having the other as one to whom we can direct our compassion or who reveals our darker side? 
Silence can never be an escape. In fact, silence can only be loved by one who has been freed from every impediment in order to encounter He who is Love and find true respite and peace in Him. 
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Text of chat during the group:
00:04:13 FrDavid Abernethy: page 359 Letter C From Abba Mark
 
00:04:17 FrDavid Abernethy: Welcome Sandy
 
00:11:11 FrDavid Abernethy: page 359 Letter C
 
00:15:40 Cindy Moran: Is this like a consecrated virgin?
 
00:26:06 LauraLeigh: Replying to "Is this like a conse..."
 
Cindy, I think it is probably different, in that you can continue to live in the world in any way you feel called as a consecrated virgin, but I believe that being a hermit involves deliberately leaving the world to live apart, yet following the monastic rule. Maybe Father can add or correct this.
 
00:27:38 Cindy Moran: Thank you!
 
00:27:39 LauraLeigh: Replying to "Is this like a conse..."
 
Your diocesan office will probably have someone who can answer questions about both.
 
00:27:50 LauraLeigh: Reacted to "Thank you!" with ?
 
00:31:41 Rachel: This reminds me of Saint Paul stating that he doesn't even judge himself. Years ago this statement left me wondering at what he meant and have now come to believe that what Cassian is saying is the same thing that Saint Paul was saying. He had a thorn in the flesh, knew a man taken up to the third Heaven yet does not even judge himself. Not even stopping to examen himself except to boast in his weakness in order to glorify God's great mercy.
 
00:32:15 LauraLeigh: Seems like, whether in community or as a hermit, one needs to be prepared to be a "plucky fighter"!
 
00:32:22 Eric Ewanco: Can you relate these eremitic hazards to ordinary laymen who live involuntarily alone but in the world? Obviously some hazards apply, but some may not. Can you comment?
 
00:32:39 LauraLeigh: Reacted to "Can you relate these..." with ?
 
00:32:55 LauraLeigh: Replying to "Can you relate these..."
 
This is my question too.
 
00:38:05 LauraLeigh: The thing is, though, about living alone in the world, you know very well that there is no one there to catch you when you fall. Everything
 
00:45:47 Anthony: I suggest that maybe women have more living examples of a secular spiritual life since widows with their maturity and their link to other widows are more common than widowers
 
00:45:51 Anthony: Grand torino
 
00:46:25 Eric Ewanco: Oh that's where that came from! I've used that. :-)
 
00:52:47 LauraLeigh: Thank you for not running off to a cabin in the woods, Father.
 
00:53:26 melissa kummerow: Reacted to "Thank you for not ru..." with ?
 
00:54:12 Anthony: Sometimes I think we try too hard to be good Catholics, so hard that we dispel that peace we might otherwise have if we didn't try so hard , since trying too hard can focus us on our turbulent selves. Perhaps it's to have a hobby and cigar a