Sunday Story…Simple, but not so Easy

“I have the simplest of tastes. I only want the best.” Oscar Wilde

Over the last year or two I have been on a campaign to simplify my life. To create a life that has more spaciousness and abundance in it by having less stuff taking up room. And, it seems, the entire world may now be going in the same direction. So, I guess I will now take full and complete responsibility for the current economic morass we find ourselves in! See, if you would have been reading these pages closely you would have know to sell 18 months ago!

We have been living beyond our means. We have been living beyond our needs. We have been living beyond our capacity to replace what we are using up. And to make things even worse we have been doing so without intention and consciousness. Like living in some fog of consumerism where the party never ends, money flows like water and the detritus of life keeps piling up. If we said I don’t care, I am going to use all the resources I can find, I am going to create a huge mess for my children’s children’s children to clean up then OK. At least we did so consciously and with intention. But no, we just went along fat dumb and happy, in essence like some bovine chewing a cud waiting to get hit smack dab in the forehead with a hammer.

The music has shifted from “Party like a Rock Star” to “Brother can you spare a dime”. From rock and roll to dirge and the lamenting can be heard the world over. And it is all my fault. I woke up. I woke up and looked around my life and decided to put myself on a reduced consumption diet. I reduced my living quarters from 1500 sq ft. to less than 1000 sq ft and I think it is still too big. I jettisoned enough stuff to get my car into a one car garage. I boxed up and gave away decades of books and cds. I donated clothes that were unnecessary to a simpler lifestyle. I committed to buying almost nothing new and wearing what I have to the end of its life. My car has 185,000 miles on it and is 9 years old and I will not be replacing it anytime soon.

I ride my bike 5 out of 6 days to work and back. This is easier because I moved out of the outlying areas into the closer and not so urbane area in the middle of town. I don’t buy plastic bags, foil or paper towels. I recycle in a town that has no recycling and I compost everything compostable. My clothes dry on a rack and my heat is kept at a miserly 55 degrees. I feel abundant and spacious.

BUT (just a question of when for this right?), this isn’t really what this is about…to see who can live the simplest, like “no-impact” man (http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/02/the_no_impact_e.html) in NYC who lived without electricity and stuff for a year. Nor is it about trying to return to the loin cloth and caves of our prehistoric past. Folks this is about ATTITUDE, INTENTION, and CONSCIOUSNESS. This is about waking up to the abundance of resources about us. Not the money, the, cars, the houses, the watches, the STUFF, but the people, the community, the hearts, the LOVE that surrounds us. We are rich in social capital. My heart breaks when I see people without food so I am creating a community garden project. A place where people can learn how to tend a physical garden, one that will provide a harvest of good nutritious food in return for their labor. AND a place for the garden of their soul to heal and re-connect with the cycle of life. This garden will be in my huge empty back yard. It is a gift to my community, to the people who want to be reconnected with life, who want to understand that social capital is more important than capital spending. And as each of us gives our time, energy, expertise and energy to the physical garden our own interior garden will grow and bloom and provide a bounty of soulful nutrition.

The community will be richer and more united. Not “look at those people why don’t they do something” but rather “look at those people what something can I do?” When I see the people stand in line at the food pantry, I see my neighbors who moved out at night recently. I see the parents of children I have taught and sometimes I see the children I have taught waiting in line and playing in the parking lot as well. I see an attitude of loss and shame and I am chagrined. How have I let this come to pass? Did my flagrant disregard of resources, my lust for the newest phone, the latest gadget, a new flat screen TV, and my accumulation of stuff cause me to lose sight of the truly important thing? The care and feeding of the human hearts around me is the important thing. This is where abundance and prosperity lie.

So, yes, the economic downturn, the recession, the financial catastrophe is my entire fault. I woke up from my dream and decided I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I awoke mad as hell and determined to change the world I live in, right here right now. This is simple my friends. Just wake up from your soporific existence and throw open the window and let the light and fresh air in. I am tilling the soil, shaking up the status quo so I can plant the seeds that will enrich my life, the lives of my community and the world. It is already being done by me.

When we have less, we have more. More space for spirit, more time to listen to the rocks move. More appreciation for the best things. Oscar Wilde was right…My tastes are simple. And the simpler my tastes are the easier it is to truly appreciate the best things…dust swirling in the spring sunlight, joyful laughter of children playing, and the satisfaction of living in a world of harmony and beauty.

Simple yes but not so easy.

Namaste

John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”

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