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Earth talks to us!
(PaliGraficas, Pixabay)
Solar Culture
(Hans, Pixabay)
Zen Coastal Stones
(PIRO4D, Pixabay)
World Peace Kids
(geralt, Pixabay)
Tree Path
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Simplicity
Simplicity
is such an important practice.
It always has been, but especially now when the population is
increasing so much and we are overusing the Earth's
resources.
We need
to care for the planet and all its creatures, including us.
Simplicity is a
spiritual practice.
This means a
huge shift away from our materialist, consumerist, capitalist society.
This requires degrowth to a society based on Love, a Solar
Culture.
It
also requires a conscious decision to resist our evolutionary instinct
to horde stuff.
We need to work
intelligently with
our instincts, the ancient programming that serves us so well.
Sometimes though the modern
lifestyle wreaks havoc with it.
Compared to previous generations - especially in the developed rich
world - we have acquired way more stuff than ever before.
In fact, six times more!! (BBC,
posted and accessed 14 April 2014)
Clutter
causes stress and is bad for physical and mental health.
Stuff requires maintenance, time and space.
Decluttering usually has an amazing freeing effect.
Time and energy are some of the rewards.
But we don't have to renounce
everything!
To get started, use online resources, or buy a book on it -
see below.
Try to dispose of something every time you acquire. Often donation to
charity is so much simpler than the time, energy and exposure
to
danger involved in selling.
Nowadays, so much stuff can be stored digitally. Do you really need all
those files and books?
Perhaps, slow down.
It has taken me many years and repeated whittling down of my
possessions to get anywhere near where I want to be.
What about you?...
Another path
is to acquire experiences
rather than stuff.
Remember that you don't need to own something to enjoy it - and you may
feel like you own it whilst you take delight in it.
Here's to a simple lifestyle.
For World Peace!
Online resources
- Simplicity Quotes (PWP).
- How
to Simplify Your Life (wikiHow).
- How
to Live a Simple and Peaceful Life (wikiHow).
- How
to Avoid Multi-Tasking (wikiHow).
- Compulsive decluttering (Wikipedia).
- Downsizing
Your Home and Decluttering Your Life (Wendy Priesnitz, Natural
Life Magazine).
- Making
Your Life Simpler: Ten Tips for Making and Keeping Minimalist
Resolutions (Wendy Priesnitz, Natural
Life Magazine).
- A
Contemplation on Moving and Stuff - Ways to Downsize Your Home and
Simplify Your Life (Monika Carless, Natural
Life Magazine).
- Living
Simply With Children (Kassandra Brown, Natural
Child Magazine).
- 7
Simple Life Tips -- From Mexico's Huichol People (Brant Secunda & Mark Allen, The
Huffington Post, 2011/2012).
- Cheap
by Choice: When Frugality Means Freedom (Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper, 2013).
- Pace
of modern life: UK v Denmark (BBC, 2013).
- Shabbat
UK: Digital detox call for the Sabbath (BBC, 2014).
- Viewpoint:
The hazards of too much stuff (BBC, 2015).
- The
stuff paradox: Dealing with clutter in the US (BBC, 2015).
- Being
a Minimalist - Ultra Spiritual Life episode 55 (JP Sears, 2017)
[This is a 4m16s video parody of simplicity that aspirant minimalists may enjoy!].
- Hoarding: Where are you on the 'clutter scale'? (BBC, 2018) [Also see here - seek help if you score over 3 for any room!].
- Why do we have so much stuff? (BBC Ideas, 2019).
Books on simplicity
- Elaine
St. James books.
- There
are many others. Obviously search online or ask your
library for books on 'Simplicity'.
Role models for simplicity
- The Minimalists (Joshua Fields Millburn
& Ryan Nicodemus). They have helped millions simplify. They offer a free eBook 16 Rules for Living with Less. Watch their documentary trailer. Watch them at TEDx.
- Marie Kondo, 1984-. She is famous for the KonMari method of organizing (itself partly inspired by Shinto), where you only keep the things that spark joy. See her Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and her website.
- José
Mujica,
1935-. He was President of Uruguay 2010-2015. He has an austere
lifestyle and donated
90% of his presidential salary to charities championing poor people and
small businesses. In a world filled with corruption
in developed (e.g. here
and here)
and developing countries, he blazes the way for the ideal politician,
the philosopher-king of Plato: 'intelligent, reliable and willing to
lead a simple life' (Wikipedia,
accessed 19 June 2014).
- Saint
Mother Teresa of Calcutta,
Albanian-Indian Nun and Missionary, 1910-1997. She won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1979 for founding the Missionaries of Charity, which helped
many outcast, sick, and extremely poor people. She only owned two saris
and a bucket (BBC
video, 53s, posted and accessed 4 September 2016).
- Ramana
Maharshi, Indian Guru 1879-1950. He only owned a loincloth,
towel and walking stick. He never received private gifts.
- Mahatma
Gandhi, Indian Non-Violence Leader, 1869-1948. "I
choose to live simply so that others may simply live."
- Leo Tolstoy,
Russian Novelist, 1828-1910. Despite originally being a nobleman, he
later advocated and lived a simple lifestyle.
- Gautama
Buddha, Founder of Buddhism, around 500 BCE. Another nobleman
who renounced his privileged noble life and taught the Middle
Way.
Collective
simplicity
- Life in a 'degrowth' economy, and why you might actually enjoy it (Samuel Alexander, The Conversation, 2014) [Degrowth!].
- How
Labour could lead the global economy out of the 20th century
(George Monbiot, The Guardian, 2017) [Private sufficiency and public luxury].
- Why 'Bushman banter' was crucial to hunter-gatherers' evolutionary success (James Suzman, The Guardian, 2017)
[They have always been fiercely egalitarian. They hate inequality or
showing off, and shun formal leadership institutions. They are part of
the most successful, sustainable civilisation in human history (over
150,000 years). They work 15 hours per week. On the strength of this,
anthropologists redubbed hunter-gatherers “the original affluent
society”. Also see here.].
- Decent
living for all does not have to cost the Earth (Leeds University, 2020).
- We Can Use Less Energy and Still Have Good
Lives (Dharna Noor, Gizmodo, 2020).
- Overconsumption and the environment: should we all stop shopping? (Jamie Waters, The Guardian, 2021)
[Over-consumption is at the root of the planet’s environmental
crisis. One solution, proposed by author JB MacKinnon, is that we
should simply buy less. But would that really work?].
- ‘Green growth’ doesn’t exist – less of everything is the only way to avert catastrophe (George Monbiot, The Guardian, 2021).
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Also see:-
Simplicity Quotes
Spirituality articles
Presence not Presents 2
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Simplicity
