This is the first Sunday in March, and the first of four consecutive Sundays built around a single theme. The theme is how we may discern and live out ways of being that are sustainable, responsible, and healthy. On successive weeks, the theme will be considered personally, globally, congregationally, and culturally -- first personally, in the way we spend our time and money;  then globally, in the way we use the world’s natural resources; then congregationally, in the way we support our church community; and finally, culturally, in the way human diversity is welcomed, especially racial differences. In each case, the question will be, how can we behave in ways that are sustainable, responsible, and healthy?

The Sunday school is in the midst of its social justice unit, and will be considering the same subjects. The Social Action Committee will focus on these matters as well; and when the month is over, that Committee will host a gathering after church on April 2 to give people a chance to talk about the issues and to decide what we as a church, or what groups of people in the church, or what individuals in the church will actually try to do to implement our good intentions.

To some degree, this focus derives from the study resolution that was passed at the General Assembly of our denomination last June in Salt Lake City. The way things work these days, the General Assembly no longer passes a bunch of votes every year, taking sides on various social issues. Instead, there is a process by which one topic is democratically selected for two years of study by the member congregations, at the end of which a Statement of Conscience is adopted (or not).

The issue for this year and next is, “Responsible Consumption as a Moral Imperative.” If I had been paying better attention, I would have given this sermon earlier in the year, in case any of you had wanted to send in comments on the subject to those who will draft the Statement of Conscience, which we will receive for our further consideration in October. I will be more on the ball then, and you will have a timely chance to comment on the whole business by next March 1.

I downloaded the whole resource packet and have posted it downstairs. It’s worth looking over. It contains a lot of information, including a long list and descriptions of other organizations interested in responsible consumption. Please feel free to mark up the sheets with any comments you may have about organizations you have found especially worthwhile, or the opposite.

The subject of our patterns of consumption will remain on the table next week when Kimi considers humanity’s relationship with the planet. What I had in mind to consider today was, how we might make do with less in our lives, and why we might try to do that. After all, among the Education Options listed in the Resource Packet, the first is, “Learn what is meant by Voluntary Simplicity.”

Well, one could just say it means, making the choice to live more simply. But it has taken on great significance and power for many people these days. So I can offer another definition, albeit one less simple: “The day to day expression of the ecocentric ethic is a life of voluntary simplicity. The life of voluntary simplicity is a life lived consciously, a decision to live in harmony with life, to show reverence for life, to sustain life. It is a life of creativity and celebration, a life of community and participatory democracy, and a life in touch with nature and the universal life force. It is a life that has soul, it is a life that allows the individual’s soul to awaken.” [Andrews 22]

I got that out of a book. Knowing what my assignment was for today, I went to the library and took out eight books on simplicity. I asked the woman checking me out if she saw any irony in this, and she smiled. She said maybe I could just take out what looked like the best one.

It turns out she was right, you could take any one and get some good practical ideas and the basic message, one that most of us need to be reminded of again and again, I’m afraid: that we should make more careful, thoughtful choices about how we live, so we spend less time and energy on things that just clutter our lives, and leave more time and energy for things that really matter to us, or should.

 But despite the librarian’s sound advice, I took out all eight and at least looked through them all, and you know, they’re all pretty good, each in a little different way. I’ll pass on some of their specific approaches and suggestions, but first I want to underscore the point that there were eight books in the Wayland Library specifically on simplicity. And each of those eight is happy to quote from dozens of other books on the same subject.

 Apparently, there is a real big market for such books, which means that even before receiving advice from the UU General Assembly, a lot of people are feeling a least somewhat overwhelmed by stuff, by too much information, too many things to buy and maintain, too many demands on their time and energy, too much too much.

 To give you a sense of the apparent size of the market for books that address this distress, I offer the bibliography at the end of just one chapter of Janet Luhrs’ book, The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living. This is from her chapter on “Clutter.” After writing twenty-one pages on the subject herself, she refers to a slew of recent books on the subject : Clutter Free, Clutter Control, Don’t Be a Slave to Housework, Guide to Eliminating Clutter from Your Life, How to Avoid Housework, Make Your House Do the Housework, Not for Packrats Only, Organize Your Family, Organize Your Home, and Organize Your Office. [Luhrs 372-3]

 By the way, the author of three of those books, Don Aslett, provides the epigram that starts the chapter: “One day I had the sudden realization: If I stopped buying things right this moment, there is no way I could ever use all I have now.” [Luhrs 351]

 Needless to say, that is not the problem for many people in this world, in this country, even in this wealthy area of ours, even among us in this room.

There are many people who will never have even the things they need, much less a surfeit of amenities. One reason for people of means to live more simply is to address that need, perhaps by using up less of the world’s natural resources, and by allocating the money one has saved by living simply to causes like the UNICEF, Oxfam, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, or any other the international relief agency.

But another argument for simple living is that it addresses another need, one that burdens the people who do have the means, and the goods, and the services, as well as the pressures and demands of the work that enable them – us -- to afford all that stuff, along with a hefty pledge to our church.

 Many writers give the need a spiritual cast. Writes Cecile Andrews, “In these last years of the twentieth century, we have reawakened to the concept of soul – it seems as if every other book published has the word soul in its title. The theme of these books is that we have lost touch with a depth and substance in life, that we are searching for ways to reclaim an experience of aliveness and authenticity and find a way to return to the good life.

  “People feel an emptiness, a sense that life isn’t all it could be. Albert Schweitzer called it our ‘sleeping sickness of the soul.’” [Andrews 1]

 He wrote, “You know of the disease in Central Africa called sleeping sickness…. There also exists a sleeping sickness of the soul. Its most dangerous aspect is that one is unaware of its coming. That is why you have to be careful. As soon as you notice the slightest sign of indifference, the moment you become aware of the loss of a certain seriousness, of longing, of enthusiasm and zest, take it as a warning. You should realize that your soul suffers if you live superficially.” [Andrews 3]

 “Why a sleeping sickness of the soul?” Andrews goes on. “Is it because we have sold our soul for comforts and conveniences, for status and success? It can be painful to examine our lives, but, there are people out there creating a new vision, creating a way of life that involves an awakening of the soul.” [Andrews 1] And that awakening, that cure to the sense that life isn’t all it could be, comes not from having something more, but – say Andrews and a growing chorus of others – from having less.

 I mentioned that there will be a meeting here on April 2 to discuss what people might do. One possibility is the formation of one or more simplicity circles, which are described in Andrews’ book, The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life. She writes that “countless numbers of people throughout the country have become involved in simplicity circles – small groups of people meeting together in homes and schools, working to create lives of well-being for people and the planet. They are building lives of high satisfaction and low environmental impact and rediscovering a way of living that brings joy and fulfillment. They are returning to the good life.”  [Andrews xi]

 Without such group support, Andrews notes, “People get fired up for a few weeks and then they slip back into their old habits. To make lasting, profound changes, people are joining … together, without experts or authorities, to help each other simplify their lives -- to support each other, to think together, to exchange ideas on ways to live differently.” [xv,xvi]

 Our families could be simplicity circles, and our circles of friends or co-workers. In fact, all these writers see a revitalization of family life as a primary goal of life’s simplification, along with the chance to spend more time with friends and indulging in one’s most-loved activities.

 Apparently, we’re not doing so well so far. Andrews claims that couples spend an average of twelve minutes a day talking to each other [3]. On the other hand, “Shopping is the most popular out of home activity. Over 90% of teenage girls say that shopping is their favorite activity.” [16]

 I have been in many a conversation about this subject of responsible consumption these past months, and I know that it is in dubious taste for males to criticize shopping itself, since most men, it is said, don’t appreciate it, or do it very well, or enjoy themselves at it, and that isn’t a virtue, just how things are. Actually, I can enjoy shopping myself, and I can’t think why it couldn’t be just the thing to enable some family members or friends to spend time together, or for people to spend time on their own if they’d like.

 It’s not time shopping that’s necessarily the problem, although at least one of the writers [Elaine St. James] would disagree, since she dislikes any time she has to spend at it (and she’s a she). The problem is buying, or buying more than we need, or spending more than we should. Elaine St. James has written two little books of the most practical sort, telling you just how to simplify your life in one hundred steps. She writes,

 “In my experience [one of the] two major issues [that] complicate our lives above all else [-- the other being a tendency to say yes when we’d like to say no –] … is our ongoing battle with consumerism and the stuff we’ve accumulated.” [St. James, Living 10] I’ve already mentioned the importance of clearing the clutter. St. James is one of the toughies on this point: “the guideline is easy:” she writes, “if you haven’t used it in a year or more, get rid of it.” [St. James, Simplify 10] But buying the stuff in the first place is where the problem begins – and worst, of course, is when the monetary cost itself is too high.

 “There is no secret rocket science to understanding the relationship between money and a simple life,” writes Janet Luhrs. “Here is the rule: If you don’t want to work too much, don’t spend the money. Plain and simple.

 “Most of us remain in bondage to our jobs because we keep spending our money, which means we need to keep working in order to earn more money to spend again. Then we complain that we’re stressed from working too much and tied to jobs we don’t like.” [Luhrs 27-28]

 As St. James notes, “Wise men and women in every culture throughout history have found that the secret to success is not in getting more but in wanting less.” [St. James, Simplify 7] Not renouncing all earthly goods and pleasures – no, she writes, “For us, living simply meant [just] reducing the scale, [while] maintaining the comfort, eliminating the complexity, and minimizing the time demands….” [6]

 And people are doing it. “A 1995 nationwide survey of a cross-section of Americans revealed that close to 30 percent of the respondents had voluntarily downshifted, and were working fewer hours for less pay so they could spend more time with their families.” [St. James, Living 7] Some people are making that choice. Maybe some of you.

 That such choices exist is a point that every writer stresses. Marcia Wieder writes that doing less and having more (which is the title of her book) “is all in designing your life. You can directly affect the way you live.” [Wieder 233] “Doing less … is about center and balance. It is about choice and freedom.” [6]

I have to admit that a part of me at that point gets a little antsy, sympathizing with those of you who do not feel you have much “choice and freedom” in your lives just now. Family illnesses, job deadlines, household crises, and the like do gang up on occasion, and the most simplicity one can hope for might be a ten-minute bath before bed. But over the long haul, we do make choices that help determine how complicated our lives will be, and what will matter, what will get our time and attention.

It is the main point of Luhr’s book. You know the quote from Thoreau that begins, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…”? Well, Luhrs thinks that that one word, deliberately, “is the hallmark of a simple life…. Simple living is about living deliberately. That’s all.” [Luhrs xiv]

Luhr is eager that we understand, “Simplicity is not just one thing, one path…. You don’t flunk if you own a car; you don’t earn honors if you plant a garden. Simplicity … is the inner you making decisions…. Simplicity means stopping for a moment and asking what the heck we are doing with our lives.” [xv,xvi]

 Do we really want to be spending our hours as we do? Are the things we desire and strive for the ones that will leave us gratified? Will a bigger house make us happier, really; or snagging a new, better-paying, but more time-consuming job improve our family’s well being? Does the complexity of our days serve to benefit the people, causes, organizations, and values we love most?

The questions are not rhetorical. Maybe the answers are yes. But the questions are ones of fundamental religious concern. And it may well be that for many of us, the honest answers point us toward more simple ways of living.
 

Bibliography
Cecile Andrews, The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1997)
Janet Luhrs, The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living (New York: Broadway Books, 1997)
Elaine St. John, Living the Simple Life: A Guide to Scaling Down and Enjoying More  (New York: Hyperion, 1996)
Elaine St. John, Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter (New York: Hyperion, 1994)
Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin, The Power of Simplicity: A Management Guide to Cutting Through the Nonsense and Doing Things Right (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999)
Jerome M. Segal, Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999)
Marcia Wieder, Doing Less and Having More: Five Easy Steps for Discovering What You Really Want – and Getting It (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1998)
 
 

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