A simple life does not mean a life empty of pleasure or meaning. In the Tao Te Ching, a work of Chinese spiritual wisdom written by the sage Lao Tzu as long ago as the 6th century BCE, the philosopher describes the world of the everyday as the world of 'the ten thousand things'. The hustle and bustle removes the possibility of peace and enjoyment of nature and our friends and family.
A small country has fewer people.
Though there are machines that can work ten to a hundred times faster than man, they are not needed.
The people take death seriously and do not travel far.
Though they have boats and carriages, no on uses them.
Though they have armor and weapons, no one displays them.
Men return to the knotting of rope in place of writing.
Their food is plain and good, their clothes fine but simple, their homes secure;
They are happy in their ways.
Though they live within sight of their neighbors,
And crowing cocks and barking dogs are heard across the way,
Yet they leave each other in peace while they grow old and die.
Reading this sort of passage brings home to me more forcefully the fact that all the stuff that we buy and all the scurrying around we do for work or 'holidays' not only destroys the planet but removes our ability to experience relaxation and joy. The more you remove yourself from these systems and choose natural local systems instead, the more they lose their attraction. It is not a choice to deprive yourself of something - more a gradual loss of interest.
But this doesn't mean the loss of beauty - in fact quite the opposite. You feel more inclined to wear exotic colours and eat delicious local food with slow enjoyment. Why don't you start with enjoying the abundance of perfumes from flowering trees at this time of year?
I think there are growing numbers of people ready to live as you describe but covering the basics is so expensive few have the luxury of leaving the rat race.
ReplyDeleteThus, they´ll drive the gas guzzler from the dreary town with ´cheaper property prices´to the office in the town with 'jobs', sit next the ropey inefficient aircon belching out spores of crap into them all day as they encourage the sale or production of disposable pointless widgets. After eight hours they sleep-drive back home to eat a processed meal and slump in front of various watt-sapping electronic entertainments.
They can ditch the car, but then they can't get to the job, they quit the job and the mega-mortgage goes unpaid, they build the yurt and the planning officer tells them to take it down.