The Golden Rule
Photo by Myron/Getty Images
Reading Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin, it occurred to me that voluntary simplicity isn’t some newfangled hippie-dippy metaphysical fad. It has deep roots running through the annals of recorded history, especially the religious quarters, from Christianity to Hinduism. But somewhere in the dark woods, between Ceasar’s assassination and the coining of the word “bling,” the children lost their way.
The golden rule, says Elgin, can be found in all the world’s spiritual traditions, and is expressed as “the compassionate admonition that we should treat others as we would want ourselves to be treated.”
The theme of sharing and economic justice seems particularly strong in the Christian tradition. Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea, stated around A.D. 365: “When someone steals a man’s clothes we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has not shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.” In the modern era this implies that if people in developed nations consume more than their fair share of the world’s resources, then they are taking food, clothing, and other essentials from those who are in great need.
(Emphasis is mine.)
Elgin says that aesthetic simplicity isn’t meant to “produce a pinched and miserly existence” but to encourage a way of life that “enhances personal freedom and fulfillment while promoting a just manner of living relative to the needs of the world.”
By waging war, we’re diverting resources from those whose basic human needs far exceed ours—weakening, not fortifying, our walls and ramparts.
I’m frequently reminded of something Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians,” which nicely abridges how I feel about organized religion and its adherents who exhort salvation with one breath, but spew bile, spite, and avarice with the next. So glorified is their Kingdom of God.
Living, I think, has to mean more than “not dying.”
A zombie who only calls out for brains is nobody’s friend.
Tangentially related P.S.:
Regarding the whole Mel Gibson debacle, has anyone asked what the Jews for Jesus think?
The Worsted Witch » Voluntary Simplicity/Frugality Online Resources said,
August 15, 2006 at 11:01 am
[...] Related articles: 1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”? 2. The Golden Rule 3. Simplicity and Consumption [...]
The Worsted Witch » Free Fun For Kids said,
October 7, 2006 at 9:19 pm
[...] Related articles: 1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”? 2. The Golden Rule 3. Simplicity and Consumption 4. Voluntary Simplicity/Frugality Online Resources [...]
The Worsted Witch » World Overshoot Day said,
October 16, 2006 at 11:10 pm
[...] Related articles: 1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”? 2. The Golden Rule 3. Simplicity and Consumption [...]
The Worsted Witch » Money Quotes said,
February 22, 2007 at 10:51 am
[...] Related articles: 1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”? 2. The Golden Rule 3. Simplicity and Consumption 4. Voluntary Simplicity/Frugality Online Resources [...]
The Worsted Witch » Money Quotes said,
June 8, 2007 at 2:05 am
[...] Related articles: 1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”? 2. The Golden Rule 3. Simplicity and Consumption 4. Vonluntary Simplicity/Frugality Online Resources 5. 174-Year-Old Wisdom [...]
The Worsted Witch » Simplicity and Consumption said,
June 19, 2007 at 10:33 am
[...] Related articles: 1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”? 2. The Golden Rule [...]