A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can
afford to let alone (Thoreau)

Voluntary simplicity responds to many of the critical problems of our era: environmental degradation, bureaucratic complexity, world hunger, a loss of social purpose and social cohesion, a dehumanizing economy, and many more. This way of life represents a creative and comprehensive response to a host of critical problems customarily considered to be separate. By coping simultaneously with scores of interrelated problems, this way of life provides a multifaceted approach that could not be achieved by addressing these problems on a one-by-one basis….

To live more voluntarily means (more…)

A Guru asked his disciples how they could tell when the night had ended and the day begun.

One said, “When you see an animal in the distance and can tell whether it is a cow or a horse.

“No,” said the Guru.

“When you look at a tree in the distance and can tell if it is a neem tree or a mango tree.”

Wrong again,” said the Guru.

“Well, then, what is it?” asked his disciples.

“When you look into the face of any man and recognize your brother in him; when you look into the face of any woman and recognize in her your sister. If you cannot do this, no matter what time it is by the sun it is still night.”
(From the book “Taking Flight” by Anthony de Mello, page 161)

Our problem is not too few jobs, it is an economic structure that creates too much dependence on paid employment and then pays people to do harmful things while neglecting so many activities that are essential to a healthy society. It is instructive to remember that until the last ten to twenty years, most people served society productively in unpaid work in the social economy. In many instances, these societies had a stronger social fabric and offered their members a greater sense of personal security and fulfillment than does our own.

Although initiatives toward creating sustainable livelihood economies may evolve in different ways in response to different circumstances and aspirations, we may infer some of their features from the above principles and examples. For example, (more…)

In the name of modernity we are creating dysfunctional societies that are breeding pathological behavior – violence, extreme competitiveness, suicide, drug abuse, greed, and environmental degradation – at every hand. Such behavior is an inevitable consequence when a society fails to meet the needs of its members for social bonding, trust, affection, and a shared sacred meaning. The threefold crisis of deepening poverty, environmental destruction, and social disintegration is a manifestation of this dysfunction. (From the book”When Corporations Rule the World” by David Korten, pages 261 – 2)

If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on Thursday,  Dec. 14, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.  She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and (more…)

Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car and I dented it?
I thought you’d kill me, but you didn’t.
And remember the time I dragged you to the beach, and you said it would rain, and it did?
I thought you’d say, “I told you so.” But you didn’t.
Do you remember the time I flirted with all the guys to make you jealous, and you were?
I thought you’d leave me, but you didn’t.
Do you remember the time I spilled strawberry pie all over your car rug?
I thought you’d hit me, but you didn’t.
And remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was formal and you showed up in jeans?
I thought you’d drop me, but you didn’t.
Yes, there were lots of things you didn’t do.
But you put up with me, and you loved me, and you protected me.
There were lots of things I wanted to make up to you when you returned from Viet Nam.
But you didn’t. (LIVING, LOVING & LEARNING by Leo F. Buscaglia, p 76-8)

DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE – SHOW GRATITUDE TO YOUR LOVED ONES NOW!

Being sensitive means, surely, to have a tender feeling for things: to see an animal suffering and do something about it, to remove a stone from the path because so many bare feet walk there, to pick up a nail on the road because somebody’s car might get a puncture. To be sensitive is to feel for people, for birds, for flowers, for trees – not because they are yours, but just because you are awake to the extraordinary beauty of things. And how is this sensitivity to be brought about?

The moment you are deeply sensitive you naturally do not pluck the flowers; there is a spontaneous desire not to destroy things, not to hurt people, which means having real respect, love. To love is the most important thing in life. But what do we mean by love? (more…)

If we are truly moved by the beauty of the world around us, we would honor the earth in a profound way. We would understand immediately and turn away with a certain horror from all those activities that violate the integrity of the planet. That we have not done so revels that a disturbance exists a more basic level of consciousness and on a greater order of magnitude than we dare admit to ourselves or even thing about. This unprecedented pathology is not merely in those more immediate forms of economic activity that have done such damage; it is even more deeply imbedded in our cultural traditions, in our religious traditions, in our very language, in our entire value system….

This reenchantment with the earth as a living reality is (more…)

Sin is when you turn away from God – or, in the other language, alienation occurs when the ego, that erratic, unreliable driver of the personality, temporarily turns aside from the great quest for integration with the inner self, the self that’s authentic, the self that contains the potential to be fully human, fully fulfilled and fully alive. You don’t become fully human by exploiting others; you don’t realise your full potential by being insensitive and uncaring. You miss the mark. You fall short of bringing to life your unique personality blueprint designed by the living God who dwells as a spark in the very core of it. The quest for integration – for self-realisation – for the start of what religious language calls eternal life – has been thwarted. Sin/alienation is psychological disease which if unhealed can lead to the living hell of lost hopes and blighted lives. (From the book “Mystical Paths” by Susan Howrath, page 224)

Today’s social standard is one of mediocrity. The status quo rarely challenges our individual creative power.

Create a brand new world for yourself, one that meets your deepest needs. By doing so, you will help raise the quality of consciousness of the entire world. Use your imagination! Sing your own song!

“Success means (more…)