I was searching hearblack because the writer's photography is breathtaking. I stumbled upon a quote from Duane Elgin, author of a book called Voluntary Simplicity. Never wanting to misquote, I googled this author (did you know that "google" is now a verb listed in the Oxford Dictionary? Awesome) and found this excerpt from Elgin's book at ecobooks.com...
Richard Gregg was a student of Gandhi's teaching and, in 1936, he wrote the following about a life of "voluntary simplicity:"
"Voluntary simplicity involves both inner and outer condition. It means singleness of purpose, sincerity and honesty within, as well as avoidance of exterior clutter, of many possessions irrelevant to the chief purpose of life. It means an ordering and guiding of our energy and our desires, a partial restraint in some directions in order to secure greater abundance of life in other directions. It involves a deliberate organization of life for a purpose. Of course, as different people have different purposes in life, what is relevant to the purpose of one person might not be relevant to the purpose of another....The degree of simplification is a matter for each individual to settle for himself."
Elgin himself wrote this in chapter four of his book entitled, Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity's Future:
Voluntary Simplicity means living in such a way that we consciously bring our most authentic and alive self into direct connection with life. This is not a static condition, but an ever changing balance. Simplicity in this sense is not simple. To live out of our deepest sense of purpose—integrating the inner and outer aspects of our lives—is an enormously challenging and continuously evolving process. The objective of the simple life is not to live dogmatically with less, but rather to live with balance so as to have a life of greater fulfillment and satisfaction.
I think it's just fabulous.
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