Addiction to simplicity
For the last several years I have been addicted, yes addicted is the best description, to powering down, to down sizing, and simplifying. It is truly amazing to me to get to a level of existence that seems radically below where I once was, settle into it a while, then start seeing even more areas where I can simplify even further.
There is a wonderful feeling of liberation and freedom that comes with this activity that can be addictive.
My whole family, wife and two children, are actively participating in this process and share the feeling, although now and then my children talk about some of the “cool stuff” people have. My children have perhaps benefited most from this exercise because they no longer have the huge pressure that the “American Dream” represents, hanging over them. Consequently they have blossomed. They are both wonderful musicians, artisans, technicians, hard working craftsperson’s, highly social, and physically active. All of this on their own leisurely schedule (and we thought if we didn’t constantly ride them they would never do anything, ha!).
I don’t kid myself that it will be easy or that it is even going to happen but I am optimistic that a new way is possible.
My current passion is to create a labor movement where people can perform simple, useful tasks in return for food, shelter, clothing, etc. combinned with a central gathering location for fun and entertainment like music, reading/storytelling, plays and productions, games, and stuff.
Tags: american dream, children, simplicity
April 19th, 2010 at 6:25 am
Neon, did I miss the part where you got a wife and two children?
No, seriously: Whose story is that? I’d like to read a little bit more. Do you feel addicted to simplifying too?
April 19th, 2010 at 7:13 am
This short excerpt is from one of the hundred comments to this post – http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5282
Yes, I am quite addicted to simplicity in the last weeks. I am becoming the so called “doomer” (the one, who believes in the energetic collapse and the deep/unhappy consequencies) in the peak oil community – http://www.theoildrum.com
My life has changed completely after I started to read informations about the peak oil situation – they are very logical (my intuition says so), but not understand by larger population – the same situation as is happening for macrobiotic, permaculture, earth buildings.
I am now simplifying, storing foods, learning survival and other practical skills.
But wife and two children would be a funny sci-fi in my life