Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
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Voluntary Simplicity How much do you need? |
"Our life is frittered away by detail."
"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail."
"Simplify, simplify."- Henry David Thoreau
Walden (Chapter 2, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.) p. 66
"Once you start to see through the myth of status, possessions, and unlimited consumption as a path to happiness, you'll find that you have all kinds of freedom and time. It's like a deal you can make with the universe: I'll give up greed for freedom. Then you can start putting your time to good use."- David Edwards interviewed by Derrick Jensen for The Sun (Nothing to Lose But Our Illusions)
"Speak the truth, speak it loud and often, calmly but insistently, and speak it, as the Quakers say, to power.
Material accumulation is not the purpose of human existence.
All growth is not good.
The environment is a necessity, not a luxury.
There is such a thing as enough.
- Donella Meadows, Ph.D. (1941 - 2001)
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Click Here for info on sustainability... |
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Click Here for simple things You can do for the Earth! |
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"As for the rich, while a few know how to use their wealth intelligently -- that is to say, not in luxurious living but by sharing it with the needy -- many do not. They are so caught up with the idea of acquiring still more that they make no room for anything else in their lives." |
"Thirty thousand years ago, when men were doing cave paintings at Lascaux, they worked twenty hours a week to provide themselves with food and shelter and clothing. The rest of the time, they could play, or sleep, or do whatever they wanted. And they lived in a natural world, with clean air, clean water, beautiful trees and sunsets. Think about it. Twenty hours a week. Thirty thousand years ago."
- from page 285 of Micahael Crichton's Jurassic Park
"I have enough money in the bank now to buy enough beans and rice for twenty-five years. To the end (sometimes longed for). Why not kidnap Suzy and sneak off to the life of a semi-hermit? A tempting, constantly tempting idea. Hide out up in Red Canyon, or Dirty Devil, or Trachyte Canyon under the Little Rockies?""Peace. Simplicity. Order, ceremony and ritual. Voluntary poverty. An end to clutter and this vulgar, stifling, crushing burden of things - junk - trash - things! - that weigh so upon our lives. I need some love in my daily life. Some loyalty. Some beauty. 'Tis a gift to be simple. ' Tis a gift to be free..."
- Edward Abbey
Journal XVI, November 7, 1978 - Tucson
"They were the best of people, and I promised myself that one day I would come and live among them and escape from the increasingly mechanistic mainland world with its March Hare preoccupation with witless production for mindless consumption; its disruptive infatuation with change for its own sake; its idiot dedication to the bitch goddess, Progress."
- Farley Mowat
A Whale For the Killing, p. 8
"Our childish pursuit of gratification palls and we too sense that something we do not understand lies within all our hectic coming and going. Our selfish ways become unsatisfying."
- Robert Aitken
Taking the Path of Zen, p. 4
| On December 22nd, 2000, I had the pleasure of conducting a radio interview with both Cecile Andrews and Mary Romano on the subject of "Voluntary Simplicty." Although I concluded the program with a strong sense of what voluntary simplicity was about, it was also clear what it wasn't. Impossing the philosopy on others, especially the poor, was a clearly marked "wasn't." Another "wasn't" is that Voluntary Simplicity isn't the "self-deprivation movement," clearly, it's the opposite of that! And finally, it's obvious there's no concrete set of "rules" - Voluntary Simplicity is pretty much how you make the best of it. So, I've reserved this page to talk about some of the cool stuff that voluntary simplicity can do for the environment, the human condition and our lives in general. |
Here are some great references to help get you started:
Volunatry Simplicity: Toward a way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich - Duane Elgin
The Simple Living Guide - Janet Luhrs
The Circle of Simplicty: Return to the Good Life - Cecile Andrews
Your Money or Your Life - Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Buy Nothing Day:
(It's always the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S.)
Apparantly the first "Buy Nothing Day" was created by an advertising executive, named Kalle Lasn, who became an anti-consumerism activist. My own family and I have done a pretty good job of observing it since the early 2000s and hope others use the day as an opportunity to take a rest from the buying frenzy.There are countless ways to "celebrate" Buy Nothing Day. Some ideas include things like staying at home and buying nothing at all - Don't go shopping, Don't buy anything! If you have to work that day, take your lunch instead of buying it. If possible, ride your bike or walk for the day. Consider it a 24 hour break from spending money and enjoy!
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Click Here for more Buy Nothing Day info... |
Involuntary Voluntary Simplicity:
I think losing a job, for just about any reason, is one of the most stressful things in our modern lives (except for losing a loved-one, etc.). So, sometimes our job situations may force us into a form of simplicity that wasn't exactly what we had planned on or volunteered for. Nevertheless, a slower, more thoughtful life can be realized through such a life change and carried on despite our financial status.Job loss, especially in our dog-eat-dog culture, can be traumatic. And, unfortunately, most of us have experienced it at one time or another. Still, it's a good time to take a deep breath, slow down, and re-evaluate. Also, being prepared, well in advance, is something we should all undertake. Things like over-extending our credit for an unnecessarily expensive car or huge house payment should be avoided at all times. It just makes sense to keep your obligations at a low, manageable level for not only possible job loss but a simpler, more thoughtful existence as well...
Quittin' Time
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I used to get excited about new inventions I'm sure most were made with the best of intentions Thought it was cool to put a man on the moon But now I've begun to sing a different tune
Technology and science have become a religion
It's Quittin' Time
They try to tell us how hard it used to be
Enslaved by a way of life propped up by lies lyrics by Robert Hoyt |
Smaller Homes!
Christopher Solomon, in am msn.com piece on March 19, 2006,
suggested that many Americans may be considering smaller homes.
Solomon started by reminding us that the average American home has more than doubled in size since 1950. "But a number of people are bucking the McMansion trend -- and finding their smaller homes to be more than ample. As an increasing number of Americans see it, our overfed physiques and gargantuan SUVs aren't the only things that could use some slimming down -- the ballooning American home needs to go on a diet, too."
Architect Sarah Susanka's message, in her book The Not So Big House, is simple: Smaller can be beautiful, and better."There are always going to be people who want the big house, even if they don't need or even use all of that space, and the reason is that a part of our culture associates bigness with success -- a big car, a big house," says Michelle Kodis, author of "Blueprint Small." In her book, "Not So Big," architect Susanka said, "It's time for a different kind of house," "A house that is more than square footage; a house that is Not So Big, where each room is used every day. A house with a floor plan inspired by our informal lifestyle instead of the way our grandparents lived."
- The average American home swelled from 983 square feet in 1950, to 2,349 square feet in 2004 -- a 240% increase.
- The American household shrank by 18% between 1970 and 2003, from 3.14 people to 2.57, on average.
- A smaller house doesn't only use fewer natural resources, but it requires fewer large furnishings to fill it.
- A smaller house is more efficient. Smaller spaces are cheaper to heat, and take less time to clean.
- Smaller homes are more comfortable. "Humans have a tendency to want to nest just like other animals, so big cavernous spaces just aren't as intimate and comfortable as a room that's scaled down to a person's size," said Michelle Kodis, author of "Blueprint Small."
- Many of today's 5,000-square-foot homes are designed to overwhelm, not welcome.
- People often can't afford to do much customizing to big houses -- there's simply too much of them -- but in a small house you can redirect money to add delightful touches.
- "Smaller space keeps you more connected with your family," and leads to better family relations, suggests Kodis.
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