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Simple living (similar but not identical to voluntary simplicity or voluntary poverty) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. Others may choose simple living for reasons of social justice or a rejection of consumerism. Some may emphasize an explicit rejection of "westernized values", while others choose to live more simply for reasons of personal taste, a sense of fairness or for personal economy.
Simple living as a concept is distinguished from the simple lifestyles of those living in conditions of poverty in that its proponents are consciously choosing to not focus on wealth directly tied to money or restrictive, cash-based economics. Although asceticism may resemble voluntary simplicity, proponents of simple living are not all ascetics. The term "downshifting" is often used to describe the act of moving from a lifestyle of greater consumption towards a lifestyle based on voluntary simplicity.
History
From the 2nd millennium BC various Hindu and Buddhist groups in the Eastern world had established a voluntarily simplified spiritual lifestyle. This practice continued with various Abrahamic religious movements in the Middle East and Europe. Various notable individuals have claimed that spiritual inspiration led them to a simple living lifestyle, such as Francis of Assisi, Ammon Hennacy and Mahatma Gandhi.
In North America, religious groups including the Shakers, Mennonites, Amish, and some Quakers have for centuries practised lifestyles where some forms of wealth or technology are excluded for religious or philosophical reasons. For more information about Quaker simplicity see Testimony of Simplicity.
Henry David Thoreau, a naturalist, utopian and writer, is often considered to have made the classic non-sectarian statement advocating a life of simple and sustainable living in his book Walden (1854).
Of course, countless individuals and families whose names are unknown to literature and history have, by choice or from necessity, lived simple lives of direct self-responsibility.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, a number of fairly prominent modern writers (in English) articulated both the theory and practice of lifestyles of this sort, among them Gandhian Richard Gregg, economists Ralph Borsodi and Scott Nearing, anthropologist-poet Gary Snyder, and utopian fiction writer Ernest Callenbach. Richard Gregg wrote a book entitled The Value of Voluntary Simplicity (1936) and many decades later Duane Elgin wrote the highly influential book Voluntary Simplicity (1981). There are eco-anarchist groups in the United States and Canada today promoting lifestyles of simplicity.
Practice
Some people who practice voluntary simplicity act consciously to reduce their need for purchased services or goods and, by extension, their need to sell their time for money. Some will spend the extra free time this generates helping their family or others in a voluntary way. Others may spend the extra free time to improve their own quality of life, without regard for the well being of others. Living simply may also reduce available time.
People practice simple living in order to improve their quality of life either psychologically, economically or spiritually, and to enrich their interpersonal relationships with family, friends or partners. Yet the majority of people who enjoy doing their own cooking, gardening, sewing and "do it yourself" do not advocate a life of voluntary simplicity.
Politics
Although some religious and political movements may encourage such practices, simple living itself is apolitical. There is no basic conflict in living simply and espousing most political theories. One could, for example, be a totalitarian monarch who espouses simple living, such as by sumptuary laws The point, however, is that a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity can accommodate a wide range of political outlooks. One could practice intense capitalism yet live simply, because capital can be possessed in forms (i.e. currency) that do not, in a strict sense, entail consumption.
Many Green Parties have been much influenced by the above groups and often advocate voluntary simplicity as a consequence of their "four pillars" or the "Ten Key Values" of the United States Green party. This includes in policy terms rejection of genetic modification and nuclear power and other potentially hazardous technologies. The Greens support for simplicity is based on the reduction in natural resource usage and environmental impact. This concept is expressed in Ernest Callenbach's "green triangle" of ecology, frugality and health.
Many with similar views avoid involvement even with green politics as compromising simplicity, however, and advocate forms of green anarchism that attempt to implement these principles at smaller scale than modern nations, e.g. the ecovillage. This view is often allied with a general critique of globalization as industrial capitalism, colonial imperialism, or a neoliberal "neocolonialism." Such a pairing is not universal among practitioners of simple living, however, who may denounce such obsession with worldly affairs as distasteful or unseemly.
Technology
Living simply may involve reconsidering what is "appropriate technology", as anabaptist groups such as the Amish or Mennonites have done. People who eschew modern technology are often referred to as Luddites, after the groups of skilled English hand-loom weavers and croppers who smashed automated looms during the industrial revolution.
People who practice simple living have very different views on the role of technology. Some simple living adherents, such as Kirkpatrick Sale, are strong critics of technology, while others see the internet as a key component of simple living in the future, including the reduction of an individual's carbon footprint through telecommuting. The idea of food miles, which are the number of miles a given piece of food has travelled between the farm and the table, is used by simple living advocates to argue for locally grown food, and this idea is beginning to gain mainstream acceptance. Some argue that computers and the internet will allow people to do things they needed a car to do before such as work or shopping while video games will make staying at home a much more attractive option.
Advertising is criticised for fostering a consumerist mentality. Most advocates of voluntary simplicity tend to agree that cutting out, or cutting down, on television viewing is a key ingredient in simple living. Some see the internet, podcasting, community radio or pirate radio as viable alternatives.
However, hi-tech technologies of all kinds requires a complex industrial base and knowledge of physics and materials science, which at the moment are a part of a military-industrial complex, and so may defeat some of the purposes of voluntary simplicity movements. On the other hand, technology can allow communications between communities and provide information on effective simple lifestyles for those who wish to change their lives, and can be run on renewable sources of energy.
Voluntary simplicity can certainly include high-tech components — indeed computers, internet, photovoltaic arrays, wind and air turbines, solar energy, and a variety of other cutting-edge technologies can be used to make a simple lifestyle within mainstream culture easier and more sustainable.
Other, non-religious approaches
A reference and starting point for this approach can be found in James Robertson's new economics and the work of thinkers and activists, who participate in his Working for a Sane Alternative network and program.
References
- Walden (1854), Henry David Thoreau, available at Wikisource:Walden — key text in simple living
- The Value of Voluntary Simplicity (1936) by Richard Gregg; a seminal book on the subject of simplicity, heavily influenced by Gandhi
- More-With-Less Cookbook (Herald Press, 1976), Doris Janzen Longacre, ISBN 0-8361-1786-7 — suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources.
- New Age Politics (1979), Mark Satin, ISBN 0440557003 — articulates a politics focused on voluntary simplicity and humanistic psychology; builds on two important Elgin articles from the 1970s
- Living More With Less (Herald Press, 1980), Doris Janzen Longacre, ISBN 0-8361-1930-4 — a pattern of living with less and a wealth of practical suggestions from the worldwide experiences of Mennonites.
- Voluntary Simplicity (1980), Duane Elgin, ISBN 0688121195 — key text in voluntary simplicity
- Wealth 101: Getting What You Want-Enjoying What You've Got, Peter McWilliams (1992)
- Your Money or Your Life (1992), Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin, ISBN 0140167153 — another classic voluntary simplicity text
- Stepping Lightly: Simplicity for People and the Planet, Mark A. Burch (2000), ISBN 0-86571-423-1
- Affluenza (2002), John de Graaf et al., ISBN 1576751996 — popularized approach to voluntary simplicity
- "What Should I Do If Reverend Billy is in my Store?" (2003), Bill Talen, ISBN 1565849795 - more recent anti-consumerism, anti-corporate. Talen gives an account of his activism.
- The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life, Cecile Andrews, ISBN 0060928727 — leading guide for simplicity study circles
- Nothing's Too Small to Make a Difference, Wanda Urbanska & Frank Levering, ISBN 0895872978 — companion volume to the PBS series Simple Living With Wanda Urbanska
See also
External links
- Path to Freedom - Living example in simple living
- Beyond Simplicity: Tough Issues For A New Era - article by Albert J. Fritsch, SJ, PhD
- Less possessions leads to happiness - article by Anil K. Rajvanshi
- How to Drop Out -article by Ran Prieur
- Less is More AKA Downshifting Blog - by Pauline Povo
"Simple living"