Radical Simplicity

[Anne Lee]

Thanks, Catherine. I requested it from Inter Library Loan.

[Sissy]

thanks, catherine, for the book recommendation. I almost whipped out my Kindle and got it, but something stopped me. I did read some of the reviews and it sounds like a good book. I will think about it and maybe later...............

I am pretty sure that I won't ever live without water and power, but I do fantisize about it. I know that there is a lot of hard work to live a life like that and that I am just not up for it.
I can remember my grandparents living pretty simply and those pictures are vivid in my mind. No hurry, no problems, make do, etc. Most people are not interested in that kind of life.

I sure go like my air conditioning!

[Rosemary]

I find it really ironic that many people live in huge houses and then go to modest cabins or camping for vacation. When our house seemed too small some years ago, I decided to think of our house as a cabin. Not only is it nice to think of our everyday home as a quiet refuge, but thinking of it this way also inspires the casual, undecorated atmosphere that we like.

There was a book I used to have, which I've since released to the world to inspire others, titled A Very Small Farm. It was a lovely memoir from a man who built his own simple house and lived sustainably in Oklahoma.

I would like to live somewhere that was amenable to walking or biking everywhere... that's not where we are now, though. I used to think about more radically simplistic modes of life, but that was before kids. Now we try to strike a balance. Compared to all the families we know well enough to consider, we have the simplest life in most respects (aside from the large yard to care for... which also provides space to grow food - again, balance).

[Xmac]

Radical simplicity for me is doing nothing. Accepting and not accepting as each new change shows up.

[Anne Lee]

Rosemary, I read A Very Small Farm! I loved it. So sad about his cow,though.

[Zoebird]

I loved this show on PBS about a man who -- in his 60s or 70s retired to a cabin that he build in alaska. it was a one room cabin, and he just showed video journals of his life. his kids put the videos together, and he did some narration on the videos, and it is just really cool. i can't remember the name, but i must have watched it 6 or more times.

our little place is little. We have no idea what the square footage is, but people pity us. LOL "It's so small!" and when people are being nice, they then go "oh, it must be so cozy!" I love the space -- truly. It's definitely bigger than a one-room cabin, but it has the feel of a vacation beach cottage to me, and i'm starting to (slowly and frugally) do it up so that it's a bit more to my tastes (which is mostly about painting the walls white). I love living this way. I love sharing the bed with my little son. and when he's old enough, he can sleep in the day bed in the lounge! seriously, no reason to move away from here, IMO!

[cdttmm]

I loved this show on PBS about a man who -- in his 60s or 70s retired to a cabin that he build in alaska. it was a one room cabin, and he just showed video journals of his life. his kids put the videos together, and he did some narration on the videos, and it is just really cool. i can't remember the name, but i must have watched it 6 or more times.

Is it "One Man's Wilderness"? If so, the book is great, too. I have the book and the DVDs and I revisit them about every 2 years. Absolutely love.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I've lived in small studio apartments and large studio apartments and one bedrooms. Can I go on record as saying, all other things constant: I prefer the larger studios to the small ones and the one bedrooms to both! I really don't get the quest for everything small, yea I've lived in tiny studio apartments, it is really not all that. And having more than one room is just cool. In small studios there really is a feeling of claustrophobia for me. Some need for space is natural to the human animal is it not? Of course this gets grotesquely distorted in McMansions, but living in a closet, well I really don't see the appeal. Now I'm not saying I won't give up some space for cost savings, but there often isn't much in the way of cost savings.

[Anne Lee]

ANM, Since the context of these answers is spiritual formation, I think the idea behind small space living is that you live with only the absolute essentials as part of a spiritual discipline. The purpose might be to identify with and free up resources for the poor or to frequently experience the grace of not relying on physical things for comfort, or what have you. The appeal isn't that you like it but that you grow from it.

IL,thanks for reminding me about the challenges. The challenges are a good way to take a very ephemeral concept and give it some form.

I have been doing some additional reading and came across the article On Christian Spiritual Formation. Interesting food for thought there, too.

[Tradd]

Have any of you read about the early Christian Desert Fathers? While they *are* Christian, I think there is much in there that simple livers would identify with. The below Penguin edition is the one I have, and available inexpensively used on Amazon. You can get a free first chapter on the Kindle edition.

http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Fathers...3264631&sr=8-2