SIMPLE LIVING
Buddha found that possessions tied you to life and were a burden and that your attachment things was a basic cause of pain. As a rich prince he searched for enlightenment and when it came, under a bodhi tree he gave let go of all possessions. Gandhi gave up a live of privilege to live simply and in simple living while spinning his own clothes. He was free of possessions and free to devote himself to bringing villagers independence from things and freeing India from from British colonial rule. Thoreau realized that a house and things were a huge weight on his back and moved to a cabin in the woods in order to face life deliberately. Jesus said that if you had two coats and your neighbor none, you should give one to him. Religions world wide have preached deliberate simple living and most of us have listened but not heard.
I’ve thought until recently that loving your neighbor as yourself meant that giving up your excess things to your neighbor was loving your neighbor as yourself. But what if loving your neighbor and giving things away was actually a way of loving yourself. What if loving yourself meant divesting yourself of the burden of things. You can only wear one coat at a time and need a closet or many closets if you have two, three or many coats. I’ve discovered that I can live in a very small space, but if I accumulate (I have accumulated) a great number of things then I need a bigger and bigger house, not for me but to store them in.
So maybe sharing with a neighbor and living with less is a way to do good, not to your neighbor, but to yourself. And maybe that is why so many religions and people that I admire preach living simply.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 