Voluntary Simplicity- it's a whole other world
I've blogged before about the perceived weirdness of trying to live a simple live- especially in an urban environment but as I get deeper into my commitment to try to live as ethically, healthily and consciously as I can, I feel as if I am moving into another world. Mostly it has to do with my motivation, many people can see something in it but nearly nobody I know would care enough to try to do some of the things I do.
Refusing to eat meat, refusing to shop in supermarkets, insisting on paying more for food to ensure it organic or fairly-traded or - worst of all - refusing to watch television. But there is a little subculture out there of cranks and weirdos all trying to break free from the consumerist nightmare. It is still possible, if you are diligent, to live outside of the ambit of corporate influence but it is a life very different from the mainstream.
I can see my life becoming more engrossed in this new way of thinking. Maybe working less and living on even less but living a life rich in ideas and in control of the humble necessities of what I eat, what I wear, where I live and how I make my living. Not many people have control in all or even any of these areas of their lives so that the few who are seem strange and possibly dangerous. Voluntary Simplicity is, surprisingly and shamefully, almost an act of civil disobedience. Our society is so centred on the notion of consuming that to wilfully opt out can be likened to entering the cloister.
As someone who spent a couple of years as a Buddhist monk there is nothing new to me about adopt a lifestyle that seems to run contrary to the mainstream but it is also strange to live such an existence at large in the world. I wonder how many other people trying to live the simple life find this strange sense of detachment?
Refusing to eat meat, refusing to shop in supermarkets, insisting on paying more for food to ensure it organic or fairly-traded or - worst of all - refusing to watch television. But there is a little subculture out there of cranks and weirdos all trying to break free from the consumerist nightmare. It is still possible, if you are diligent, to live outside of the ambit of corporate influence but it is a life very different from the mainstream.
I can see my life becoming more engrossed in this new way of thinking. Maybe working less and living on even less but living a life rich in ideas and in control of the humble necessities of what I eat, what I wear, where I live and how I make my living. Not many people have control in all or even any of these areas of their lives so that the few who are seem strange and possibly dangerous. Voluntary Simplicity is, surprisingly and shamefully, almost an act of civil disobedience. Our society is so centred on the notion of consuming that to wilfully opt out can be likened to entering the cloister.
As someone who spent a couple of years as a Buddhist monk there is nothing new to me about adopt a lifestyle that seems to run contrary to the mainstream but it is also strange to live such an existence at large in the world. I wonder how many other people trying to live the simple life find this strange sense of detachment?
posted by voluntarysimpleton at 12:54 PM
2 Comments:
We're a thousand miles from where I want us to be in our growth toward voluntary simplicity, but we've come at least 500 miles so far. Of course, just realizing and accepting some of the elements of what the change entails is a huge leap.
My husband and I live a much happier existence without tv. We read more books and spend more time interacting with each other. (I think we have to be careful, though, not to use computers and the internet as a tv replacement for inadvertently or purposefully avoiding interaction.) As I've said before, I'd rather live an interesting live than watch the interesting (or, in some cases, supposedly interesting) lives of others on tv.
I blog about our developments at www.danandsally.com, though many of my older posts will be down for a while.
I've sort of felt this way (i.e. anti-consumerist, don't want to be told what to do or buy, want to do something good)for a long time and have tried to let this inform my life choices, but I still felt the pull of societal norms and the anxiety/guilt they try and instil when you resist. What made the big difference for me was starting to study aikido, which is ALL about living responsibly, cultivating good character and getting mind/body into harmony. As an ardent atheist, this has filled that religion-shaped hole for me. And what's remarkable is that there is this whole culture of individuals in aikido who try and live this way, show respect for oneself and each other, etc.
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