The Not-So-Simple Life

Tinker's middle child, George, married over the weekend. The box scores for Tinker's kids are: 4 marriages, 2 divorces, 7 children. By comparison, the numbers for my kids are: 2 kids, 0 marriages, 0 children. Hummm. I have to remind myself that life is more than a numbers game. More than what I have yet to figure out. For sure, success is measured by accumulated assets. The guy who ends up with the most stuff wins, right? I've mentioned my on-going wrestling match with the Scriptural reference to the "lilies of the field." And, also previously discussed, Thoreau's advise to simplify, simplify, simplify haunts me. So, last week while spending some time on the Coast I had a conversation with Rick, a small business owner from Kansas. As the conversation unfolded, it was obvious that I am not making much sense. Rick questioned why I removed the air conditioners from my house. It gets hotter than Hades here in mid-summer. He challenged my refusal to use petro-chemicals on my garden. I lose a significant part of my produce to bugs, weeds and fungi. And, when I told him about my make-shift outdoor shower, I felt as if I was showing my Luddite credentials. My in-door shower works perfectly well. I have been thinking about all this stuff about living the simple life. Even though I am making a nod to the simple life, I have not made a full committment to it. I try to grow much of my food but I routinely patronize the grocery. I still use electricity and continue to watch television and listen to radio. Obviously, I fire up my computer every day. If I were to calculate my "stuff" it would not support any claim that I might make to living a simple life. This self-evaluation is disappointing. Here I thought I was making some progress to an ideal. Instead, upon serious and sober examination, the evidence produces a different conclusion. This means it is back to the drawing board to figure out what the hell I am doing. This does tell me that living a simple life is no where as simple as it may sound in theory. I spent some time with the Buddhists and now I wonder how a Buddhist would view the life I lead? Is it authentic? Is the life I lead one that rests with itself? Am I living a life of simplicity? Thing is, simplicity is not about denial necessarily. Just as the Buddhist life is not about self-denial. Rather, a simple life is about opting for different demands and priorities. Instead of fulfilling a list of chores, the simple life calls one to see the joy in elemental things. I made a note to myself this morning how it felt to fill the chickens' water jugs. The richness of the experience is made essential when it is considered in its fundamental parts. The clear, cold water, the swirl of the flow of the water, the weight of the filled jugs, the welcomed relief the filled jug brought to the chickens. They are, after all, captives under my control. I never really thought of them as such but it is true. Had I decided not to fill the jugs, another life form would have suffered from my indifference. Is the simple life not considering the discreet acts of everyday life and how they fit into a broader flow of events? It is not about rejecitng but accepting something different. A divergent path that seeks to find the joy in mundane experience. Sometimes when I am walking and I am tired, I focus on my legs and will them to move. I am exhilerated by the willful movement of my muscles and can feel my body respond to the focus I am giving it. In that instant, I am not working on a project, I am focusing on movement. At times, I swear, I can feel the blood course though my legs and can feel the tendons and muscles contract and relax as I propel myself forward. There is exquisite pain and pleasure in it. That is essential. That is real. That is simple. In all of its complexity, to take a step and move forward is a remarkable event that deserves celebration. Yet, normally I do it dumbly and without thought or recognition of its miraculous nature. What I generally do is focus on the task at hand without regard to the elemental parts that accomplish it. That is the ultimate rejection of living the simple life. It is not about things. The simple life has never been about things. It is about the mind. A person with lots of things can lead a simple life. A person with nothing can lead a simple life. Thoreau would have lead the simple life even without Walden Pond. Jesus lead the simple life even with the crowds of Palm Sunday. Ghandi would have lead the simple life even without the British.