Verse 80: Simple Lives

Verse Eighty
If you want to be free, learn to live simply.
Use what you have and be content where you are.
Quit trying to solve your problems by moving to
another place, by changing mates or careers.
Leave your car in the garage.
If you have a gun, put it away.
Sell that complex computer and
go back to using pencil and paper.
Rather than read every new book that comes along,
reread the classics.

Eat food grown locally.
Wear simple, durable clothing.
Keep a small home, uncluttered and easy to clean.
Keep an open calendar with periods of uncommitted time.
Have a spiritual practice and let family customs grow.

Of course, the world is full of novelty and adventure.
New opportunities come along every day.
So what?
~ John Heider rendition ~

This verse doesn't need a lot of extra commentary because Heider's rendition is a commentary unto itself!

It goes hand in hand with the saying: Live simply so others can simply live.

When we each lead simple lives, there is more for everyone. When we lead complex lives, there is less for everyone and we have to spend a great deal of time and resources protecting what we have from those who have not.

At the end of the day, all the money, possessions, power, status and fame a person can sop up won't make you a contented person -- instead it will make you a person who always is striving for more. The more you strive, the more stress you will feel throughout your body. The more stress you take on, the worse you will feel about yourself and the world around you. So, you will try to obtain even more money, possessions, power, status and fame to fill the void. It becomes a never-ending vicious circle.

Live simply and you free your being to walk a path of enlightenment.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.