To me, simplicity is living with the absence of unnecessary complications. It means developing an awareness of that which complicates our daily life, and doing your best to weed them out. It does not mean to me, as it does for some, anti-technology and living in a mud hut with a garden and a bicycle. No, I live in a house and I drive a car and I have computers and an iPhone. But, I don’t live in a big house, as big as I could afford to. I don’t desire the McMansion because at the root of that is that you are trying to beat other people, to impress somebody with what you have, and that is not simplicity. I want to impress me. Now, I enjoy nice surroundings as much as the next guy and I want better for myself and my family, that is natural and healthy. But when we find ourselves in desperate need to go upscale, examine why you feel that way, what are the real motivations lurking underneath? Is the motivation shallow and superficial? Why do people put strain and complications on themselves by going into such tremendous debt? They turn themselves into slaves, where their appetites are the master, and no longer control their own lives.
Shedding the unneeded has its physical manifestation. This is what most people think simplicity is all about, cleaning out your closets, getting rid of everything. Yes, that can be a part of it, but again, look a little deeper. Why did we become a pack rat? Why do we just let things build up? Simplicity is more about dealing with the internal motivations than it is about dealing with the external. I think we do that because we get mentally lazy about things. It takes mental effort to live simply in this society that is built on consumerism. You have to work at it, constantly. You have to decide- that stuff is nice to have, but I haven’t used it in a year, I’m getting rid of it. I am weeding out of the garden all the things which choke off the few things I really do want in my life. I will enjoy them even more now because they are not diluted by the other stuff. When you’ve weeded your garden, and the junk is no longer choking off the good plants, they thrive, they bring forth good food. A healthy and productive garden (a life, if you will) benefits you, your family, and your neighbor, because you are no longer eyeing his garden! That’s what simplicity means to me, as it relates to materialism. Let’s hear your thoughts.
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You define the simplicity in very simple way. I like all the article very much and it is so simple to simplify the life.
I’m glad you wrote this. I don’t understand why some people think technology complicates. It makes life so much simpler!! Haven’t you ever been late to meet a friend, thought you knew where you were going, checked it on your iphone, called your friend to let them know you were late, they tell you they’ve moved to another location for lunch…and then you ask yourself, what did we ever do without cellphones???
Absolutely, the simplicity movement sometimes seems to only focus on going “back” to an earlier state and making our own soap. Technology CAN simplify.
You’ve posted a very deep article. Simplicity according to me is a state where I am in peace. In current times, we’re constantly on run and we don’t find peace anywhere. Consumerism right, we squander our money on things which are not needed and only desired and they lose their value within few days, after that it all becomes rubbish.
I heard once from a very good philosopher that just take a good look at your own house and you’ll realize, there are so many things which we never use but still they’re there. The same thing I read on web. How much we’ve cluttered our mind with materialism. To be simple and stay simple is difficult but not impossible. It’s about keeping a golden mean between two extremes and if either way gets heavier, our mind starts to take stress.