“Living simply” doesn’t necessarily mean, “living poorly.”

Living Simply

by Paul Kowalewski

While browsing through a local bookstore the other day I took note of how many “lifestyle magazines” there were, and most of them featured some sort of story about “living simply.”

For the most part, the magazines contained low-fat recipes using organic ingredients, exercise tips and suggestions for home decor in a minimalist fashion – eating well, staying healthy and “Feng Shui” decorating – the pathway to living a “simple life.”

As I looked through those magazines it struck me that “living simply” is essentially at the core of every spiritual discipline, but eating a low-carb diet doesn’t necessarily help a person to “live simply.” Furthermore “living simply” doesn’t necessarily mean, “living poorly.” You don’t have to live in a shack or a hut or drive a run-down used car to live a simple life.

For me, the meaning of “simple living” on the spiritual journey is perhaps best explained by the Buddhist teaching about “detachment” – living life without “craving” or “clinging” to anything or anyone.

Things and possessions: I can enjoy my “stuff” in life without being unduly attached to any of it- to my house or car or money or clothes. I live simply when I don’t constantly “crave” more – always desiring the bigger and better, newer and faster. And – I live simply when I don’t cling to any of my “stuff” -”squirreling it away, stacking it all up in big piles, ready and willing to share what I have with others, especially with those who have less.

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