Over the last decade, I have just loved researching the saints, writing about them and about the hermit life, and I have always looked forward to writing each post, despite the many hours of real work that each one entails. It has been a labor of love.
It was not my idea to start this blog, however. A friend of mine from my Vedanta days encouraged me to write it, but I think she probably envisaged something more contemporary and argumentative - and specifically something that would generate some type of income.
I subsequently learned, however, that an automatic income would only come through "monetizing" my blog, which would allow advertisements chosen by this platform to be displayed over my blog, and I could not bear the idea. First of all, advertisements are ugly. They do not match the aesthetics I have chosen for this publication. They offend my eyes and diminish whatever message I choose to offer in the midst of the verbiage.
Instead, I chose to request donations, leaving it to the discretion of the reader as to what they could afford, but few of my many readers ever donated - except for one lovely woman who said she lived in Ireland, who donated, then became enraged when she understood that I do not support Donald Trump. Why someone in the U.K. would be so invested in an American political figure is beyond me, but she felt that my disapproval of him was a personal affront against her. She became highly offended, and told me off furiously. None of this made any logical sense to me, but this is the condition of our world at this moment.
Although I am not focused on contemporary news and politics, if I have anything to say on those topic, I will say it on Facebook under the moniker of "The Occasional Hermit," since the newsy posts will, fittingly, disappear in time to make room for newer items in the feed. See my Facebook page for those kind of topics.
One thing I learned from my decades of meditation is that where you place your mind's eye is where you take yourself, and if you concentrate on God, you get God. That's all there is to it. If you concentrate on the other guy, you're going to get him. It's like driving a car. You have to look out the windshield in front of you to get yourself where you are going, while only glancing through the other windows on occasion to ensure that no one is about to crash into you, or vice versa.
I am not giving up the blog entirely. Sometimes it will be necessary to warn people off dangerous religious fads and to correct the record when a conspiracy theory is floated about, say, the Pope, for instance, at which time I may return here and put in my two cents worth. But it can't be a daily thing. I have other things to do.
I have quit this blog a couple times in the past, and came back to it eventually because the work of getting to know the various saints I have researched has been interesting to me. I loved the whole process of becoming more familiar, and drawing closer to a life of holiness that I could use as an example for mine.
The research and the writing of these blogs, combined with the complexity of keeping myself physically alive, have taken up so much of my time that I have not been able to finish the books I have started, so I am going to focus on those books until I get at least ONE finished and edited. Occasionally, I will return to this blog.
If this blog had helped me support the hermitage, that would have been a different matter and, to be fair, I had no way of knowing whether or not it would do that. Now that I know that it will not, it is time to reassess.
I am conducting a review of the blog entries I have posted over the last decade and removing many of them, especially those that relate to "current" events, and relegating them to the "unpublished" category.
I remind everyone that posts about the saints are my intellectual work product and belong to me. While you are welcome to make note of factual material, such as birth and death dates, you may not copy the blog post for any purpose. If you would like to quote from my work, you may contact me in the comment section of this blog and we can discuss.
I will still be available to moderate the comments on the blog, though I don't expect there will be many. The donate button (below my photograph at the top of the right column) will remain in hopeful active status.
Saint Adela of Normandy
Obviously, my primary occupation is my contemplative life, but, other than the occasional article written for this venue, I will be continuing work on my books and my haiku poetry. In addition, I have resumed a painting career that I left behind when I began to go blind. I have managed to keep the vision in one eye (thanks be to God!) and I am slowly learning how to paint in mono-vision, with no depth perception!
When I have a decent number of paintings available for sale, I anticipate creating another blog for those things and will also announce it here. The painting blog MAY be combined with the author blog for my novels, but I have not yet decided.
As always, you may contact me through my Facebook page. You can put a comment on any of my posts, but if you want to send me a private message, I will always take a look at my message requests, eventually.
The donation button remains active, though a bit dusty and rusty.
Thank you for reading. I wish you the very best, and God bless you all. You are in my prayers.
Silver Rose
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