Wick has been blogging about Into the Silence, a movie about life in a silent monastery. At the same time, after a recommendation by Jonathan, I’ve started reading Eric Brende’s Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, about living for a year in an Amish community.
This life of simplicity is pretty dang appealing, honestly–I’ve felt overcrowded for years now, first by all my religious commitments (which were, at the time, inseperable from work commitments), and now from the technological commitments, blogging, learning web design, all the other projects I want to do, never mind the craziness of ordinary life, family, etc, plus the burden of all the stuff I own or want to own.
In the last couple years, I’ve made a serious effort to pare those commitments back, to refuse to be controlled by them, and to enjoy life more simply, but I tend to find that I fill up the space I make, both in my time and with regard to physical possessions, as fast as I empty it.
That dilemma makes me want to dump it all, to pull a stunt like Brende’s year with the Amish or something else equally drastic.
And maybe it’s not a bad idea–what’s holding me back from making that kind of drastic change besides a bit of fear and the imagination to make it happen? Why shouldn’t I try something completely different in the name of stripping the unnecessary stuff out of my life?
But we…we are not called to by monks. We are not called to sit and stare at video of a simpler life and drool over such freedom.
I agree. Staring at a video and drooling over it isn’t our call. And certainly, we’re not called to sequester ourselves in the name of simplicity.
But I’m not sure that we can give up imagining a new, simple way of life in the name of not sequestering ourselves. I want to imagine something different, I want to DO something different.
I want to find a new balance between simplicity and life in the world.
5 Comments
Thanks for pointing out my typo.
Definitely with you. Today’s post was written a couple days ago, while still struggling with not wanting to become a monk…but still believing my life SHOULD be impacted by the simplicity of God.
I’m still colliding my life with God’s call out of the hurry. On the week of “Black Friday”, no less. Ick.
I feel your struggle with trying to simplify only to find that the space filled up with something else a month or two later (if not sooner). In that book, the author points out the constant struggle of the community with this. I think part of their solution is part not being early adopters. They take much time and deliberation over the qualities good & bad of a technology. Then secondly they adopt it as a community. The communal aspect is essential I think. Without having a community, the support isn’t there and things can easily revert to the LCD–usually individualistic consumerism.
I don’t know about this movie about monks and sorry Wick but I didn’t read your post about it. But I can still understand a struggle with relating to monks. I sometimes wish my life would of went differently, didn’t get married became a monk & lived in that isolation for my years. But something says that isn’t the right answer (at least for me).
I would like to invest more into living a life more in tune with how the author of Better Off ends up at the end of the book.
Hey, I read Better Off a couple of years ago. I thought it was very intriguing and yes; very enticing. I still think about it a lot and wonder what it would take to live off the grid like that.
But, then I realize that a better aspiration would be balance. When I start thinking too much about Eric Brende’s approach, I realize it’s not too far off from the kid in Into the Wild. I thought that kid was a total jerk. Yes, technology and facebook and cell phones and their ilk, when run amok, become huge time/energy suckers that keep us from focusing on the important things.
At the same time, I am way more in touch with my sister, my mom, friends that have moved away, than I possibly could be just 5 years ago. Because of facebook of all things, I have had contact and appreciated and been amazed at people from my past that I fully expected to never hear how they “turned out”.
All this technology could be used to enable things like forgiveness and reconciliation, communication and friendship in ways that are not possible when living off the grid by myself. With the possible exception of a monastic lifestyle, I think we were made for connection with other human beings and anything (even new technology) that can foster contact between human beings is important.
I totally agree with your thoughts Shack about the necessity if community. But I don’t think your apraisal of Eric Brende’s style is correct. He us much different than our Into The Wild fellow. Eric’s huge point throughout the book is the centrality of community. They work together, make decisions together, they live their lives deeply connected.
If you look back at his last chapter it seems he found a place of much balance. I think that in into the wild he finds he peace and is ready to come back. We all must go into the desert alone so come back with a better perspective.
This is something I think about often. Radical simplicity can often end up being just as idolatrous as extreme consumerism when approached as end in and of itself. Balanced, simple living can be great way to cut the fat out of our lives, though, and I am always looking for ways to simplify when it will ultimately lead to a higher quality of life.
It’s interesting to me that we Americans also tend to clutter our spiritual lives with many good things (sermons, activities, a passion for a certain theological concept or point of view), but at the expense of the simple truth regarding the Good News of Jesus. I am *so* guilty of this.
Thanks for the post, man!