In our Sunday School this month, we are going through a rotation of lessons on the Parable of the Mustard Seed, pondering how great faith can grow from small beginnings. In a session for the adult group, parishioners Kristin and Aaron Reichert led a discussion on simplicity of material lifestyle, and how it can lead to greater abundance of emotional and spiritual well-being. They offered, among other resources, this extended quote from Duane Elgin, describing varieties of simplicity we might move toward in our lives:
Uncluttered Simplicity: Simplicity means taking charge of lives that are too busy, too stressed, and too fragmented. Simplicity means cutting back on clutter, complications, and trivial distractions, both material and nonmaterial, and focusing on the essentials – whatever those may be fore each of our unique lives. As Thoreau said, “Our life is frittered away by detail . . . Simplify, simplify.” Or, as Plato wrote, “In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.”
Ecological Simplicity: Simplicity means choosing ways of living that touch the Earth more lightly and that reduce our ecological impact on the web of life. This life-path remembers our deep roots with the soil, air and water. It encourages us to connect with nature, the seasons, and the cosmos. An ecological simplicity feels a deep reverence for the community of life on Earth and accepts that the nonhuman realms of plants and animals have their dignity and rights as well.
Family Simplicity: Simplicity means placing the well-being of one’s family ahead of materialism and the acquisition of things. This expression of green living puts and emphasis on providing children with healthy role models living balanced lives that are not distorted by consumerism. Family simplicity affirms that what matters most in life is often invisible – the quality and integrity of our relationships with one another. Family simplicity is also intergenerational – it looks ahead and seeks to life with restraint so as to leave a healthy Earth for future generations.
Soulful simplicity: Simplicity means approaching life as a meditation and cultivating our experience of direct connection with all that exists. By living simply, we can more easily awaken to the living universe that surrounds and sustains us, moment by moment. Soulful simplicity is more concerned with consciously tasting life in its unadorned richness than with a particular standard or manner of material living. In cultivating a soulful connection with life, we tend to look beyond surface appearances and bring our interior aliveness into relationships of all kinds.
Frugal simplicity: Simplicity means that, by cutting back on spending that is not truly serving our lives, and by practicing skillful management of our personal finances, we can achieve greater financial independence. Frugality and careful financial management bring increased financial freedom and the opportunity to more consciously choose our path through life. Living with less also decreases the impact of our consumption upon the Earth and frees resources for others.
From Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin
Do these distinctions of simplicity connect with your own experience? How might you see yourself and your family making use of these notions of simplicity in your life ways?
No comments:
Post a Comment