Simple living

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Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn in 1942. Gandhi believed in a life of simplicity and self-sufficiency. Gandhi spinning 1942.jpg
Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn in 1942. Gandhi believed in a life of simplicity and self-sufficiency.

Simple living refers to practices that promote simplicity in one's lifestyle. Common practices of simple living include reducing the number of possessions one owns, depending less on technology and services, and spending less money. [1] [2] In addition to such external changes, simple living also reflects a person's mindset and values. [3] Simple living practices can be seen in history, religion, art, and economics.

Contents

Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of personal reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in quality time for family and friends, work–life balance, personal taste, financial sustainability, increase in philanthropy, frugality, environmental sustainability, [4] or reducing stress. Simple living can also be a reaction to economic materialism and consumer culture. Some cite sociopolitical goals aligned with environmentalist, anti-consumerist, or anti-war movements, including conservation, degrowth, deep ecology, and tax resistance. [5]

History

Religious and spiritual

A number of religious and spiritual traditions encourage simple living. [6] Early examples include the Śramaṇa traditions of Iron Age India and biblical Nazirites. More formal traditions of simple living stretch back to antiquity, originating with religious and philosophical leaders such as Jesus, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Zarathustra, Gautama Buddha, and Prophet Muhammad.[ citation needed ] These traditions were heavily influenced by both national cultures and religious ethics. [7] [ page needed ] Simplicity was one of the primary concepts espoused by Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism. This is most embodied in the principles of Pu and Ziran. [8] [ full citation needed ] Confucius has been quoted numerous times as promoting simple living. [9] [10] [ full citation needed ]

Gautama Buddha espoused simple living as a central virtue of Buddhism. The Four Noble Truths advocate detachment from desire as the path to ending suffering and attaining Nirvana. [11] [ full citation needed ] [12]

Jesus is said to have lived a simple life. He is said to have encouraged his disciples "to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics". [13] He also told his disciples that they cannot serve God and money at the same time, and explained that God is capable of providing them with the essentials for life (food and clothing), so long as they "seek his kingdom first". [14] The Apostle Paul taught that people should be content with food and clothing, and that the desire to be rich is the cause of many kinds of evils. [15]

Many other notable religious individuals, such as Benedict of Nursia, Francis of Assisi, [16] Leo Tolstoy, Rabindranath Tagore, Albert Schweitzer, and Mahatma Gandhi, have claimed that spiritual inspiration led them to a simple living lifestyle. [7] [ page needed ]

Ottoman Dervish portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi, 1860s circa, Muzeul National de Arta al Romaniei Preziosi - Dervis cersetor.jpg
Ottoman Dervish portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi, 1860s circa, Muzeul Naţional de Artă al României

Sufism in the Muslim world emerged and grew as a mystical, somewhat hidden tradition in the mainstream Sunni and Shia denominations of Islam. [17] Sufism grew particularly in the frontier areas of Islamic states, [17] [18] where the asceticism of its fakirs and dervishes appealed to populations already used to the monastic traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. [19] [20] Sufis were influential and successful in spreading Islam between the 10th and 19th centuries. [17] Some scholars have argued that Sufi Muslim ascetics and mystics played a decisive role in converting the Turkic peoples to Islam, mainly because of the similarities between the extreme, ascetic Sufis (fakirs and dervishes) and the Shamans of the traditional Turco-Mongol religion. [18] [21]

Plain people typically belonged to Christian groups that practised lifestyles that excluded forms of wealth or technology for religious or philosophical reasons. Such Christian groups include the Shakers, Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, Amana Colonies, Bruderhof, [22] Old German Baptist Brethren, Harmony Society, and some Quakers. A Quaker belief called Testimony of simplicity states that a person ought to live her or his life simply. Some tropes about complete exclusion of technology in these groups may not be accurate though. The Amish and other groups do use some modern technology, after assessing its impact on the community. [23]

The 18th-century French Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau strongly praised the simple way of life in many of his writings, especially in two books: Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750) and Discourse on Inequality (1754). [24]

Secular and political

Epicureanism, based on the teachings of the Athens-based philosopher Epicurus, flourished from about the fourth century BCE to the third century CE. Epicureanism held that the paradigm of happiness was the untroubled life, which was made possible by carefully considered choices. Epicurus pointed out that troubles entailed by maintaining an extravagant lifestyle tend to outweigh the pleasures of partaking in it. He therefore concluded that what is necessary for happiness, bodily comfort, and life itself should be maintained at minimal cost, while all things beyond what is necessary for these should either be tempered by moderation or completely avoided. [25]

Reconstruction of Henry David Thoreau's cabin on the shores of Walden Pond Thoreau's cabin inside.jpg
Reconstruction of Henry David Thoreau's cabin on the shores of Walden Pond

Henry David Thoreau, an American naturalist and author, made the classic secular advocacy of a life of simple and sustainable living in his book Walden (1854). Thoreau conducted a two-year experiment living a plain and simple life on the shores of Walden Pond. He concluded: "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail." [26]

In Victorian Britain, Henry Stephens Salt, an admirer of Thoreau, popularised the idea of "Simplification, the saner method of living". [27] :22 Other British advocates of the simple life included Edward Carpenter, William Morris, and the members of the "Fellowship of the New Life". [27] :27–28 Carpenter popularised the phrase the "Simple Life" in his essay Simplification of Life in his England's Ideal (1887). [28]

C.R. Ashbee and his followers also practised some of these ideas, thus linking simplicity with the Arts and Crafts movement. [29] British novelist John Cowper Powys advocated the simple life in his 1933 book A Philosophy of Solitude. [30] John Middleton Murry and Max Plowman practised a simple lifestyle at their Adelphi Centre in Essex in the 1930s. [31] Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh championed a "right simplicity" philosophy based on ruralism in some of his work. [32]

George Lorenzo Noyes, a naturalist, mineralogist, development critic, writer, and artist, is known as the Thoreau of Maine. He lived a wilderness lifestyle, advocating through his creative work a simple life and reverence for nature. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Vanderbilt Agrarians of the Southern United States advocated a lifestyle and culture centered upon traditional and sustainable agrarian values as opposed to the progressive urban industrialism which dominated the Western world at that time.

The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1924 Veblen - Theory of the leisure class, 1924 - 5854536.tif
The Theory of the Leisure Class , 1924

The Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen warned against the conspicuous consumption of the materialistic society in his The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899); Richard Gregg coined the term "voluntary simplicity" in The Value of Voluntary Simplicity (1936). From the 1920s, a number of modern authors articulated both the theory and practice of living simply, among them Gandhian Richard Gregg, economists Ralph Borsodi and Scott Nearing, anthropologist-poet Gary Snyder, and utopian fiction writer Ernest Callenbach. Economist E. F. Schumacher argued against the notion that "bigger is better" in Small Is Beautiful (1973); and Duane Elgin continued the promotion of the simple life in Voluntary Simplicity (1981).

The Australian academic Ted Trainer practices and writes about simplicity, and established The Simplicity Institute [33] at Pigface Point, some 20 km (12 mi) from the University of New South Wales to which it is attached. [34] A secular set of nine values was developed with the Ethify Yourself project in Austria, having a simplified life style in mind. In the United States voluntary simplicity started to garner more public exposure through a movement in the late 1990s around a popular "simplicity" book, The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. [35]

Practices

Reducing consumption, work time, and possessions

Living simply in a small dwelling Portland alternative dwellings workshop.jpg
Living simply in a small dwelling

Some people practice simple living by reducing their consumption. Lowering consumption can reduce individual debt, which allows for greater flexibility and simplicity in one's life. If one spends less on goods or services, one must spend less time earning money. The time saved may be used to pursue other interests, to help others through volunteering, or to improve their quality of life, for example, by pursuing creative activities. Developing a detachment from the pursuit of money has led some individuals, such as Suelo and Mark Boyle, to live with no money. [36] People who reduce their expenses can also increase their savings, leading to financial independence and the possibility of early retirement. [37]

The "100 Thing Challenge" is a grassroots movement to whittle personal possessions to one hundred items, aiming of de-cluttering and simplify life. [38] People in the tiny house movement chose to live in small, mortgage-free, low-impact dwellings, such as log cabins or beach huts. [39]

Joshua Becker suggests that people who desire to simplify their lives begin by simplifying their homes. [40]

Increasing self-sufficiency

Robert Hart's forest garden in Shropshire, England, UK Forestgarden2.jpg
Robert Hart's forest garden in Shropshire, England, UK

One way to simplify life is to get back-to-the-land and grow your own food. Increased self-sufficiency reduces dependency on money and the broader economy. [41] Tom Hodgkinson believes the key to a free and simple life is to stop consuming and start producing. [42] Writer and eco-blogger Jennifer Nini left the city to live off-grid, grow food, and "be a part of the solution; not part of the problem." [43]

Forest gardening, developed by simple living adherent Robert Hart, is a low-maintenance, plant-based food production system based on woodland ecosystems. It incorporates fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, and perennial vegetables. [44] :97 Hart created a model forest garden from a 0.12 acres (490 m2) orchard on his farm at Wenlock Edge in Shropshire. [44] :45

"Food miles" is a description of the number of miles a given item of food or its ingredients has travelled between the farm and the table. Simple living advocates use this metric to argue for locally grown food, for example in books like The 100-Mile Diet and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life . In each of those cases, the authors devoted a year to reducing their carbon footprint by eating locally. [45]

City dwellers can produce home-grown fruit and vegetables in pot gardens or miniature indoor greenhouses. Tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, peas, strawberries, and several types of herbs can all thrive in pots. Jim Merkel says "A person could sprout seeds. They are tasty, incredibly nutritious, and easy to grow... We grow them in wide-mouthed mason jars with a square of nylon window screen screwed under a metal ring". [46]

Reconsidering technology

People who practice simple living have diverse views on the role of technology. The American political activist Scott Nearing was skeptical about how humanity would use new technology, citing destructive inventions such as nuclear weapons. [47] Those who eschew modern technology are often referred to as Luddites or neo-Luddites. [48] Although simple living is often a secular pursuit, it may still involve reconsidering appropriate technology as Anabaptist groups such as the Amish or Mennonites have done.

Technology can make a simple lifestyle within mainstream culture easier and more sustainable. The internet can reduce an individual's carbon footprint through remote work and lower paper usage. Some have calculated their energy consumption to show that one can live simply and in a satisfying way by using much less energy than is typically used in Western countries. [49] Technologies they may embrace include computers, photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, and water turbines.

Technological interventions that appear to simplify living may actually induce side effects elsewhere or in the future. Evgeny Morozov warns that tools like the internet can facilitate mass surveillance and political repression. [50] The book Green Illusions identifies how wind and solar energy technologies have hidden side effects and can actually increase energy consumption and entrench environmental harms over time. [51] The authors of the book Techno-Fix criticize technological optimists for overlooking the limitations of technology in solving agricultural problems. [52]

Simplifying diet

Figs, berries, and cheese Figs, berries and cheese.jpg
Figs, berries, and cheese

In contrast to diets like vegetarianism, a simplified diet focuses on principles rather than a set of rules. People may use less sophisticated and cheaper ingredients, and eat dishes considered as "comfort food", including home-cooked dishes. Simple diets are usually considered to be "healthy", since they include a significant amount of fruit and vegetables. [53] A simple diet usually avoids highly processed foods and fast-food eating. [54] [ verification needed ] Simplicity may also entail taking time to be present while eating, such as by following rituals, avoiding multitasking when eating, and putting time aside to consume food mindfully and gratefully, potentially in the company of others. [55] [ verification needed ] Moreover, it is common to cook one's own food, by following simple recipes that are not particularly time consuming, in an attempt to reduce the amount of energy necessary for cooking. [56] [ verification needed ]

A simple diet looks different from person to person and can be adapted to suit individual needs and desires. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the Movement for Compassionate Living was formed by Kathleen and Jack Jannaway in 1984 to spread the message of veganism and promote simple living and self-reliance as a remedy against the exploitation of humans, animals, and the planet.

Politics and activism

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is inspired by simple living, as harmony with nature is intrinsically dependent on a simple lifestyle.[ according to whom? ] For example, Green parties often advocate simple living as a consequence of their "four pillars" or the "Ten Key Values" of the Green Party of the United States. This includes, in policy terms, their rejection of genetic engineering and nuclear power and other technologies they consider to be hazardous. The Greens' support for simplicity is based on the reduction in natural resource usage and environmental impact. [4] This concept is expressed in Ernest Callenbach's "green triangle" of ecology, frugality, and health.

Some avoid involvement even with green politics as compromising simplicity, however, and instead advocate forms of green anarchism that attempt to implement these principles at a smaller scale, e.g. the ecovillage. Deep ecology, a belief that the world does not exist as a resource to be freely exploited by humans, proposes wilderness preservation, human population control, and simple living. [57]

The White House Peace Vigil, started by simple living adherent Ellen Thomas in 1981 PeacePark.jpg
The White House Peace Vigil, started by simple living adherent Ellen Thomas in 1981

Arts

The term "bohemianism" describes a tradition of both voluntary and involuntary poverty by artists who devote their time to artistic endeavors rather than paid labor. The term was coined by the French bourgeoisie as a way to describe social non-conformists. [58] Bohemians sometimes also expressed their unorthodoxy through simplistic art, for instance in the case of Amedeo Modigliani. [59] Minimalistic art inspired "rebel" artistic movements into the 20th century. [58]

Positive attitudes towards living in poverty for the sake of art are becoming less common among young American artists. One recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design said "her classmates showed little interest in living in garrets and eating ramen noodles." [60]

Economics

A new economics movement has been building since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, [61] and the publications that year of Only One Earth, The Limits to Growth , and Blueprint for Survival , followed by Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered in 1973. [62] [ page needed ]

David Wann introduced the idea of "simple prosperity" as it applies to a sustainable lifestyle. From his point of view, "it is important to ask ourselves three fundamental questions: what is the point of all our commuting and consuming? What is the economy for? And, finally, why do we seem to be unhappier now than when we began our initial pursuit for rich abundance?" [63] [ page needed ]

James Robertson's A New Economics of Sustainable Development [62] inspired work of thinkers and activists who participate in his Working for a Sane Alternative network and program. According to Robertson, the shift to sustainability is likely to require a widespread shift of emphasis from raising incomes to reducing costs.

The principles of the new economics, as set out by Robertson, are the following: [64]

Related Research Articles

KISS, an acronym for "Keep it simple, stupid!", is a design principle first noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960. First seen partly in American English by at least 1938, KISS implies that simplicity should be a design goal. The phrase has been associated with aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson. The term "KISS principle" was in popular use by 1970. Variations on the phrase include "keep it super simple", "keep it simple, silly", "keep it short and simple", "keep it short and sweet", "keep it simple and straightforward", "keep it small and simple", "keep it simple, soldier", "keep it simple, sailor", "keep it simple, sweetie", "keep it stupidly simple", or "keep it sweet and simple".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asceticism</span> Lifestyle of frugality and abstinence

Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and also spend time fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion, prayer, and/or meditation. Some individuals have also attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from addictions to things such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, entertainment, sex, food, etc.

Sustainable living describes a lifestyle that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources by an individual or society. Its practitioners often attempt to reduce their ecological footprint by altering their home designs and methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet. Its proponents aim to conduct their lives in ways that are consistent with sustainability, naturally balanced, and respectful of humanity's symbiotic relationship with the Earth's natural ecology. The practice and general philosophy of ecological living closely follows the overall principles of sustainable development.

<i>Walden</i> 1854 book by Henry David Thoreau

Walden is an 1854 book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and—to some degree—a manual for self-reliance.

In social behavior, downshifting is a trend where individuals adopt simpler lives from what critics call the "rat race".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convenience</span> Ease accessibility, save resources, and decrease frustration

Convenient procedures, products and services are those intended to increase ease in accessibility, save resources and decrease frustration. A modern convenience is a labor-saving device, service or substance which make a task easier or more efficient than a traditional method. Convenience is a relative concept, and depends on context. For example, automobiles were once considered a convenience, yet today are regarded as a normal part of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tax resistance</span> Refusal to pay a tax in opposition to a government or policy, rather than taxation itself

Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax regulations, also a form of civil disobedience. Tax resisters are distinct from "tax protesters", who deny that the legal obligation to pay taxes exists or applies to them. Tax resisters may accept that some law commands them to pay taxes but they still choose to resist taxation.

The slow movement is a cultural initiative that advocates for a reduction in the pace of modern life, encouraging individuals to embrace a more thoughtful and deliberate approach to their daily activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frugality</span> Being frugal in the consumption of consumable resources

Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent, or economical in the consumption of resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.

Intentional living is any lifestyle based on an individual or group's conscious attempts to live according to their values and beliefs. These can include lifestyles based on religious, political or ethical values, as well as for self-improvement.

Bradford Angier was an American wilderness survivalist and proponent of back-to-earth living. He authored more than 35 books on how to survive in the wild and how to live minimalisticly off the land.

Degrowth is an academic and social movement critical of the concept of growth in gross domestic product as a measure of human and economic development. The idea of degrowth is based on ideas and research from economic anthropology, ecological economics, environmental sciences, and development studies. It argues that modern capitalism's unitary focus on growth causes widespread ecological damage and is unnecessary for the further increase of human living standards. Degrowth theory has been met with both academic acclaim and considerable criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish</span> Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships

The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss and Alsatian origins. As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, the Amish have been described by certain scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a Christian denomination. The Amish are closely related to Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites, denominations that are also a part of Anabaptist Christianity. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micro-sustainability</span> Individual or small scale sustainability efforts

Micro-sustainability is the portion of sustainability centered around small scale environmental measures that ultimately affect the environment through a larger cumulative impact. Micro-sustainability centers on individual efforts, behavior modification, education and creating attitudinal changes, which result in an environmentally conscious individual. Micro-sustainability encourages sustainable changes through "change agents"—individuals who foster positive environmental action locally and inside their sphere of influence. Examples of micro-sustainability include recycling, power saving by turning off unused lights, programming thermostats for efficient use of energy, reducing water usage, changing commuting habits to use less fossil fuels or modifying buying habits to reduce consumption and waste. The emphasis of micro-sustainability is on an individual's actions, rather than organizational or institutional practices at the systemic level. These small local level actions have immediate community benefits if undertaken on a widespread scale and if imitated, they can have a cumulative broad impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slow living</span> Lifestyle

Slow living is a lifestyle which encourages a slower approach to aspects of everyday life, involving completing tasks at a leisurely pace. The origins of this lifestyle are linked to the Italian slow food movement, which emphasized traditional food production techniques in response to the emerging popularity of fast food during the 1980s and 1990s. Slow living encompasses a wide variety of sub-categories, such as slow money and slow cities, which are proposed as solutions to the negative environmental consequences of capitalism and consumerism in alignment with the aims of the green movement.

Sustainable consumer behavior is the sub-discipline of consumer behavior that studies why and how consumers do or do not incorporate sustainability priorities into their consumption behavior. It studies the products that consumers select, how those products are used, and how they are disposed of in pursuit of consumers' sustainability goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Minimalists</span> American duo promoting minimalist lifestyle

The Minimalists are American authors, podcasters, filmmakers, and public speakers Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who promote a minimalist lifestyle. They are known for the Netflix documentaries Minimalism (2016) and the Emmy-nominated Less Is Now (2021); the New York Times bestselling book Love People, Use Things (2021); The Minimalists Podcast; and their minimalism blog. Educator T.K. Coleman joined The Minimalists as podcast co-host in August 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-growth</span> Beyond optimum economic growth

Post-growth is a stance on economic growth concerning the limits-to-growth dilemma — recognition that, on a planet of finite material resources, extractive economies and populations cannot grow infinitely. The term "post-growth" acknowledges that economic growth can generate beneficial effects up to a point, but beyond that point it is necessary to look for other indicators and techniques to increase human wellbeing.

Ted (F.E.) Trainer is an Australian academic, author, and an advocate of economic degrowth, eco-anarchism, simple living, and 'conserver' lifestyles. He is a retired lecturer from the School of Social Work, University of New South Wales. He has written numerous books and articles on sustainability and is developing Pigface Point, an alternative lifestyle educational site near Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bea Johnson</span> Franco-American environmentalist

Béa Johnson is a US-based environmental activist, author and motivational speaker. She is best known for waste free living by reducing her family's annual trash down to a pint and for authoring the book Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste. Having started to adhere to simple living as early as 2006, Johnson is widely recognized for pioneering and popularizing waste-free living.

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