How can we live simply?

The very act of living simply may conjure up images of living cut off from the ‘rat race’, where a simpler and more ecologically sensitive lifestyle can be achieved. But this idea betrays the very fundamentals of what living simply means. In order to live simply, Pope Francis draws upon the Christian tradition to show what living simply really means, and how it is a call to live a simpler but more meaningful life.

This animation is based on the teachings found in the encyclical Laudato Si’, by Pope Francis. Find out more about the teachings on Laudato Si’.

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TRANSCRIPT

Given the huge stresses and strains of living in our fast paced and frenetic world, the idea of slowing down and living more simply is definitely an appealing thought. Allowing ourselves the time and space to live a simpler, more meaningful life, not only sounds tempting but would serve as a much-needed counterbalance in a world ravaged by the excesses of consumer living.

Jesus preached a simple life, suggesting that we imitate the birds of the air and the lilies in the field who do not worry about tomorrow, or about what they eat or wear. But this worry-free and simple life may seem an almost impossible, and perhaps abstract ideal, given the huge pressures we face living in a consumer society.

After all, we all need to work for a living, pay our bills and ensure we have enough money to get by. We would all happily adopt a simpler and carefree lifestyle, where we didn’t have to worry about the concerns of tomorrow, if only our financial stresses were taken care of, or perhaps if we somehow won the lottery.

But storing up our treasures in order for us to live a worry-free life is exactly what Jesus warns against. While living simply may mean the opposite of storing up treasures, it does not mean renouncing all of our material possessions in order to live off-grid, surviving only from home grown produce and our own resources.

Rather, living simply is more about revaluating our priorities, making a conscious effort to live well within our means and to purse what is meaningful in our lives, rather than being caught up in the trap of always wanting more and more. This can include spending time with family and friends, taking time to develop our relationship with God, spending more time out enjoying nature, and volunteering our time to help others in need.

To live simply is to seek joy and happiness in the simple and more important things in life. This requires us to slow down and to revaluate what is meaningful in our lives. Often mistaken for material things, we all know, deep down, that what we treasure the most in our lives are the relationships we have, and the connections we have made, where we are loved for who we are, the way we are.

When we spend our time and energy pursuing these higher goals, which are both life-affirming and life-giving, we can escape the temptations of consumer living driven by highly sophisticated marketing messages that continue to sell us a newer, shinier, or faster version of the things we already have.

The over-consumption and waste that are the result of these highly persuasive marketing messages is wreaking havoc both to the environment and to the human family. We know our planet cannot sustain our growing need for more and more stuff, as well as our throw-away lifestyles that are the result of a hyper-consumer culture.

Living simply allows us to become more aware and awake to the interior impulses driving us to consume way beyond our needs. When we are no longer driven by an inner compulsion to buy the cheapest, convenient or status-driven items, we can begin to make consumer choices based on our values.

This means spending more wisely, and making consumer choices that reflect our interconnectedness with our environment, as well as our relationship with the workers who produce these goods, and their families. . When our shopping habits are driven by these values, we can have a positive impact on both the environment and communities around the world.

This is why living simply is not about checking out of ordinary life, but rather engaging with it more deeply. By slowing down we can find the time to spend on building relationships, accepting each moment as a gift from God to be cherished, while becoming more present and attentive to one another.

By learning to live in this way, we can find a way of life that is restorative not just for ourselves, but for one another and for our planet. And given the harm our over-consumptive lifestyles have made; it would seem that following Jesus’ call to live a simpler life is needed now, more than ever.

Laudato Si’, On care for our common home.
Pope Francis, 2015
  1. On the other hand, no one can cultivate a sober and satisfying life without being at peace with him or herself. An adequate understanding of spirituality consists in filling out what we mean by peace, which is much more than the absence of war. Inner peace is closely related to care for ecology and for the common good because, lived out authentically, it is reflected in a balanced lifestyle together with a capacity for wonder which takes us to a deeper understanding of life. Nature is filled with words of love, but how can we listen to them amid constant noise, interminable and nerve-wracking distractions, or the cult of appearances? Many people today sense a profound imbalance which drives them to frenetic activity and makes them feel busy, in a constant hurry which in turn leads them to ride rough-shod over everything around them. This too affects how they treat the environment. An integral ecology includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us, whose presence “must not be contrivced but found, uncovered”.[155]
  1. We are speaking of an attitude of the heart, one which approaches life with serene attentiveness, which is capable of being fully present to someone without thinking of what comes next, which accepts each moment as a gift from God to be lived to the full. Jesus taught us this attitude when he invited us to contemplate the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, or when seeing the rich young man and knowing his restlessness, “he looked at him with love” (Mk10:21). He was completely present to everyone and to everything, and in this way he showed us the way to overcome that unhealthy anxiety which makes us superficial, aggressive and compulsive consumers.
  1. Saint Therese of Lisieux invites us to practise the little way of love, not to miss out on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness.In the end, a world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms.
  1. In this regard, “the relationship between a good aesthetic education and the maintenance of a healthy environment cannot be overlooked”.[150]By learning to see and appreciate beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism. If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple. If we want to bring about deep change, we need to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our behaviour. Our efforts at education will be inadequate and ineffectual unless we strive to promote a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature. Otherwise, the paradigm of consumerism will continue to advance, with the help of the media and the highly effective workings of the market.

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2020-06-24T14:45:55+00:00