All my life I have yearned for true reclusion,Days on end sought wonders beyond this world:Here old peasants enter their fields at dawn,And mountain monks return to their temples at night.Clear sounds come from pine-shaded springs,Mossy walls filled with ancient truths.I will lodge on this mountain forever,I and the world are done with each other.Meng Hao-jan
In a world that equates a quality life with extreme busyness, the relentless pursuit of more money and stuff, and a full social calendar, it is odd to suggest anything else, like a quiet, simple and minimal life.
A life lived outside of the noisy and frenetic city.
Where one works only enough to satisfy basic needs and intellectual curiosity, without the craving for more.
A life where one might not read the latest news, rarely travel far from home, never go out for entertainment, and instead spend a lot of time in nature.
It seems odd to suggest only staying in touch with a few friends and family members, instead of planning one's whole life around such things.
Not going to the gym, but taking one's exercise by going for long walks.
Eschewing restaurants and take out and eating simple foods grown and made by your own hands.
Seldom buying anything, and working at minimizing possessions instead of the more mainstream pursuit of maximizing them.
Disregarding most of popular culture, and not knowing the latest shows and movies.
Striving to be in bed by 8:30 every night, and up by 5:00 every morning.
To argue this in today's modern, technological maelstrom of mayhem may seem like insanity to a regular member of such a society.
But I have always yearned for more reclusion, and the more I get, the happier I am.
I am done with this modern age. I find it distasteful and unhealthy.
And I don't think that's crazy.
Rather, a yearning for more solitude seems to me to be a rational reaction to a sick and ailing world.
Reclusion is the antidote.
It's self-preservation.
There are wonders aplenty to be had here.
"I really am a recluse. I just enjoy watching the wind blow through the trees. In America someone who sits around and does that is at the bottom of the ladder, but in Japan, say, someone who goes up into the mountains is accorded great respect. I guess I am somewhere in between. I enjoy reclusion: it clears my mind."— Robert M. Pirsig
This reminds me of a book I'm re-reading - a book I've owned on Kindle many years and this is my 4th re-read.
ReplyDeleteIt's called "Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World". By Linda Breen Pierce.
The author published a "simplicity survey" back in the 1996 and gathered responses from people on how they had simplified their lives. The author than personally interviewed a select number of the respondents and their stories became the book. Nearly all talk about what you mention above - being done with the pressure filled modern age and it's consumerism. Some of them did go into more reclusive lifestyles, some stayed in their jobs but simplified their lives in other ways, most took lesser paying jobs or working fewer hours to step out of the pressures. Nearly all talk about the fact they want to or did find community involvement that fulfills them.
This blog certainly is one of those communities, thank you Gregg.
The book is interesting even though outdated in some ways...and unfortunately it shows how much we have NOT learned about voluntary simplicity, caring for the planet, and caring for ourselves.
Mary
Thank you, Mary. It is a community that Linda and I are grateful for every day.
DeleteNot many people are into voluntary simplicity as it turns out. I wonder how they will like involuntary simplicity? Either way, it is coming.
- Gregg
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
ReplyDeleteI have always been maladjusted to our sick society. And they wanted me to think I was the problem. Ha!
Delete- Gregg
Lovely words, thank you. Sometimes I just need a reminder !
ReplyDeleteWe all do, because these things are counterintuitive. How can less be more? But it is.
Delete- Gregg
The simple life you describe is very appealing to me at this stage of my life. I think part of me has always yearned for it, but had no concept of it. I never came across this view on living when I was young, and therefore, like so many others have just lived the "normal" consumer life. I have had a corporate job with the same company for 27 years. I moved around hoping to find a position that made me happy, but that has never happened. In fact, my unhappiness has only grown as the company has enhanced its "big brother" abilities. I look back now at how much time, energy, and money I have spent living that "normal" consumer life when all I have ever really longed for was freedom, but just didn't "get it". I marvel now when I read books and blogs of others who figured out simplicity early in life. Now I am caught in the The Trap with a lifestyle dependent on the corporate Man and a husband who is fearful of not having enough. For him more is more and I am having a difficult time convincing him other wise. It is good that you and Linda are of like minds. Thank you for this blog. I have become "woke" by reading it. Doreen USA
ReplyDeleteDoreen,
DeleteWelcome. We are so happy you have found our little (and growing) community far off in a quiet corner of the internet. Knowledgeable, friendly simple living folks come around from time to time, and we have learned so very much from them over the years. You will, too, if you hang out here with us.
The journey Linda and I have been on has taken us many, many years to nurture into being, and we are learning better ways of doing things all the time. There is always more simple to be had, and our joyful challenge is finding it.
I'm not sure it matters when one gets it, just that one eventually gets it. Congratulations. You have arrived. Perhaps one day your hubby will, too. Our cultural programming is sticky, but gentle, loving nudges can help dislodge some of its negative aspects.
You will find that there are a lot of people here willing to help you both on your own personal journey. Let us know what we can do.
- Gregg and Linda
Hello Doreen: This lovely blog has become my safe place, a space where I truly feel surrounded by a community that "gets it" - so much so that I (very selfishly) haven't shared its existence with anyone in my outside circle of family or friends. Sometimes the surest way to work our way out of a net ("The Trap") is to sit still, be patient, and work away at unravelling one knot at a time. You've made the first, big, crucial step in your personal journey to freedom: You looked up and you saw the net. You have friends here. use us.
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