hermitism

Why this word is great

HERMITISM — [Noun] The habits or lifestyle of a hermit, characterized by living alone and in isolation. From hermit (from Old French hermite, from Late Latin eremita, from Greek erēmitēs, "of the desert," from erēmos, "solitary") + -ism (suffix forming nouns denoting a practice or system). Unlike "reclusiveness" (which emphasizes withdrawal from society) or "monasticism" (which cloisters solitude in ritual), hermitism is the raw practice of aloneness. It is the hermit’s fire lit at dusk in a mountain cave, the careful mending of a single threadbare robe, the slow erosion of a path worn by one pair of feet—a life pared down to the essentials, where even silence grows loud.