Simple living

Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle considered by its adherents to be an ecologically or spiritually motivated alternative to Western consumerism. The term "downshifting" is often used to describe the act of moving toward a lifestyle based on voluntary simplicity.

History

Monks in the Middle Ages were possibly the earliest practitioners of organised lifestyles of voluntary poverty in Europe, though the use of fasts of short duration is common in many cultures throughout history. 2500 years ago in Asia, Buddhism had already established a voluntarily simplified spiritual lifestyle.

Related Topics:
Monk - Middle Ages - Europe - Asia - Buddhism

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In North America, religious groups including the Shakers, Mennonites, Amish, and some Quakers have for centuries practised lifestyles where some forms of wealth or technology are excluded for religious or philosophical reasons. For more information about Quaker simplicity see Testimony of Simplicity. Henry David Thoreau, a naturalist, ethicist, and writer, is often considered to have made the classic non-sectarian American statement of this sensibility in his book Walden.

Related Topics:
North America - Shakers - Mennonites - Amish - Quakers - Wealth - Technology - Testimony of Simplicity - Henry David Thoreau - Naturalist - Ethicist - Walden

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Though people who eschew high technology are often referred to as Luddites, after the groups of skilled English hand-loom weavers and croppers who smashed automated looms during the industrial revolution, it's important to realise that the Luddites acted not because of a philosophy of voluntary simplicity, but because the new automated looms threatened their livelihoods. In a society with no social welfare system, this meant that they faced desperate privation - and their fears were realised when automated looms took over and skilled hand-loom weavers and their families endured awful poverty and even death by starvation.

Related Topics:
Luddites - English

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From the 1920s to the 1960s, a number of fairly prominent modern writers (in English) articulated both the theory and practice of lifestyles of this sort, among them Gandhian Richard Gregg, economists Ralph Borsodi and Scott Nearing, anthropologist-poet Gary Snyder, and utopian fiction writer Ernest Callenbach. The modern version of Voluntary Simplicity was named in the 1970s by the seminal book of the same title by Duane Elgin. There are eco-anarchist groups in the United States and Canada today promoting lifestyles of simplicity.

Related Topics:
1920s - 1960s - Richard Gregg - Ralph Borsodi - Scott Nearing - Gary Snyder - Utopian - Ernest Callenbach - 1970s - Duane Elgin - Eco-anarchist - United States - Canada

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