1. 1.       Hermit

> What does it mean to be a hermit in the 21st century? How is your day?

Obviously it means living rigorously alone, without any contact with the world.

But I believe instead it’s above all a spiritual dimension, a dimension fo the soul. A dimension that brings one to a state of profound calm and contemplation, therefore I am in linewith all the mystics of the past, from Saint Theresa to Saint John of the Cross, Saint Augustine, Saint Gregory, Saint Bernardo…

Becoming a mystic is not for everyone.

I am more and more convinced that one is called. By God.

It’s a dimension that you reach, rather than conquer, but I believe that you need to also be on a journey of emptying yourself from bodily desires, from temptations and needs of the ego, which I know from my books and profession as a psychotherapist,  has selfish, ominpotent and narcissistic pretenses. To my readers, in fact, I always suggest living existence as a journey of growth, of reducing to a minimum one’s level of neuroses, of knowing we have to die.

Living as a hermit became natural to me when I reached the mystic dimension.

> Why does a hermit use Facebook?

Because for some time periods I don’t live rigourously as a hermit with no contact with the world… fb is something I have been doing for a few months and it will be a short-term experience, that I will finish soon… but it’s like when you write books… these are very short moments in time because I believe above all in being a witness of my time.

>In Italy there are almost two hundred people that choose to live their faith in solitude- in mountain and city hermitages: do you know others like you?

No. I don’t have relationships with any of them. Also because I am very reserved and my being a hermit goes in phases.

Also for health reasons lately I have had to go to hospitals and get treated there…

>“The best part of our personal growth we receive thanks to our enemies”- says one of your books. Isn’t being a hermit just an escape from the world and your enemies?

Well, no it’s the opposite. At least for me, that I did psychotherapy for thirty years… I know well neuroses… and you can imagine how much I have reflected upon this… certainly I have a big perplexity about others who live as hermits… infact, I have never advised anyone to do it. My books raise the alert against neuroses.

> Why did you decide to become a hermit?

I didn’t decide… I was called, since I was little, by the Lord. Here we don’t have time… but if you want one day I will tell you about it…

2. Psychotherapy

>For 35 years you listened to hundreds of people talking about their deepest problems: what is the most important thing that you learned from men and women today? What are their great virtues and vices?

That they are in great desparation, alone and empty… that they are inhabited by fear. They are confused… but what strikes me most is that they still want to be oriented, they want to count still, to become responsible… and in a world like this one – globalized and amoral because it’s consumeristic, this is great news.

>A series of sexual scandals involving famous people have been in the news lately. And it’s also common to hear about people who have it all and decide to end their lives: is this an old phenomena? Or is it new? How do you see it?

I feel very sorry for those people… and not only now… since the beginning I observed and perceived in them a lack of intellectual substance, a total lack of spirituality… sex doesn’t interest me anymore for a while… but this too is a topic which we should develop better….

>Your autobiography is called “From Freud to God.” It seems that at a certain point psychology stops giving answers: why? It’s not enough to lower your level of personal neurosis?

No. It’s not a enough to lower your level of neurosis because this is not what gives life meaning… I say in my books that reducing neurosis is for cleaning your heart better, in order to journey better on the road toward spiritual awareness, to get closer to God.

3. Spiritual teacher

>Someone said that today we live a high level of spiritual illiteracy. Do you agree?

Perfectly…

>A person told me: “I know that I have a dark drawer full of disorganized things, but I prefer not to enter.” Fear – sometimes terror- to enter into ourselves seems to be something we all live: why?

Fear does not belong to me… and my books have always dealt with fear and how to overcome it… fear for me is the biggest blasphemy and tragedy of our time.

>Who is God for you? What is the strongest experience of His presence you have ever had?

God is everything for me.

I have had various strong occasions of His presence. … I have always cried of deep joy, a full annihilation of the ego…

>You write to help meaning seekers pose the right questions. Of all the essential questions, which is the one that we forget the most?

We came to this earth because He wanted it, not us… we are here to bring to completion a mission… each of us has one.

And… I help people not forget this.

4. Man

> A place that could be heaven:

> A way of resting:

> A song that makes you happy:

> An inspiring book:

> A film that strikes you:

> An irresistible dish:

> Something that always comes with you:

> A person to have a coffee with:

> Your motto of life:

This is the only question I don’t know how to respond to.. because I have no idea about paradise… I think about living fully with God today!