A Chronicle of Living

Welcome to my journal of simplicity. Over the past year or two, I have become increasingly interested in pursuing a more natural approach to life, whether it be with the food I eat, the house I keep, or the many other aspects of life to which this philosophy can be applied. This “philosophy” I speak of is difficult to define; it derives partly from the slow, local food movement, partly from a concern to live a more sustainable and less disposable life, and partly from a soulful yearning to move toward a more meaningful existence.

I choose the word “simplicity” to describe the mean toward which I strive not because making these changes or performing the tasks are necessarily easy or convenient. As an example, cooking one's meals or preserving food for the winter are rarely easy or convenient tasks. They are “simple,” however, in the sense that my garden or local farmers' market simplifies the journey of my food from the ground to my mouth.

I have no illusions that my small actions will be anything but tiny ripples in the grand scheme of life on this planet. That understanding aside, I also believe that if each of us took our own paths of discovery toward the simple life, we could dramatically improve our co-existence with fellow humans and other creatures on Mother Earth.

I recently read the first few pages of a book called The Tao of Liberation by Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Buff. This is a book that only a few months ago, I would not have even bothered to pick up. I tend to shy away from anything related to religion or spirituality. However, after a recent visit with my great-uncle, who studies the Tao Te Ching daily, I decided to give it a try. I was shocked to discover that the philosophy in the book scratched an itch I didn't know I had, putting ideas into words that I had long struggled to articulate myself. In the first chapter of the book, the authors discuss the idea of a transformation in human consciousness called the “Great Turning,” the lens through which they examine the necessary “shift from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.”

“It is our belief, though, that the current cycle of despair and destruction can be broken, that we will still have the opportunity to act fruitfully and change course. There is still time for the Great Turning to catch hold and heal our planet....We seek a path toward such a transformation, a change calling us to a new way of being in the world—a way that embodies just and harmonious relationships both within human society and within the wider Earth community. We seek a wisdom—a Tao—leading us to integral liberation.

“We believe that the power to make these changes is already present among us. It is present in seed-form in the human spirit. It is present in the evolutionary processes of Gaia, our living Earth. In fact, it is woven into the very fabric of the cosmos itself, in the Tao that flows through all and in all. If we can find a way to attune ourselves to the Tao and align ourselves with its energy, we will find the key to truly revolutionary transformations leading to authentic liberation.”

-pg. 3, The Tao of Liberation

The goal of this blog is not so lofty as seeking to lead a revolution in human consciousness. It is merely a space for me to ruminate critically on ways in which to slow life down, eat fewer processed and chemical-laden foods, and become more harmonious with my local community and nature itself. I am not looking for praise for my actions, nor am I condemning those who have not made these changes in their own lives. This is the chronicle of a personal journey. If, along the way, something I write inspires someone to think a new thought or try something new, then I've done more than I ever expected to with this tiny ripple.