{"id":19017,"date":"2020-06-30T09:24:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T13:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19017"},"modified":"2020-06-30T09:39:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T13:39:35","slug":"simplicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19017","title":{"rendered":"Simplicity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t-29WLQ3trA\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Embracing Enoughness<\/strong><br>Tuesday, \u202fJune 30, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. \u2014<\/em>Lao Tzu &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of us have grown up with a capitalist worldview which makes a virtue and goal out of accumulation, consumption, and collecting. It has taught us to assume, quite falsely, that more is better. But it\u2019s hard for us to recognize this unsustainable and unhappy trap because it\u2019s the only game in town. When parents perform multiple duties all day and into the night, it is the story line that their children surely absorb. \u201cI produce therefore I am\u201d and \u201cI consume therefore I am\u201d might be today\u2019s answers to Descartes\u2019 \u201cI think therefore I am.\u201d These identities are all terribly mistaken, but we can\u2019t discover the truth until we remove the clutter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The course we are on assures us of a predictable future of strained individualism, environmental destruction, severe competition as resources dwindle for a growing population, and perpetual war. Our culture ingrains in us the belief that there isn\u2019t enough to go around, which determines most of our politics and spending. In the United States there is never enough money for adequate health care, education, the arts, or even basic infrastructure. At the same time, the largest budget is always for war, bombs, and military gadgets. I hope we can all recognize how the tragic consequences of these decisions are being played out right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E. F. Schumacher (1911\u20131977) said years ago, \u201cSmall is beautiful,\u201d and many other wise people have come to know that&nbsp;<em><strong>less stuff invariably leaves room for more soul<\/strong><\/em><strong>. <\/strong>In fact, possessions and soul seem to operate in inverse proportion to one another. Only through simplicity can we find deep contentment instead of perpetually striving and living unsatisfied.&nbsp;<em>Simple living<\/em>&nbsp;is the foundational social justice teaching of Jesus, Francis and Clare of Assisi, Dorothy Day, Pope Francis, and all hermits, mystics, prophets, and seers since time immemorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Franciscan spirituality asks us to let go, to recognize that&nbsp;<em>there is<\/em>&nbsp;<em>enough to go around and meet everyone\u2019s need but not everyone\u2019s greed<\/em>. A worldview of enoughness will predictably emerge in us as we realize our&nbsp;<em>naked being in God<\/em>instead of thinking that more of anything or more frenetic doing can fill up our infinite longing and restlessness. Francis did not just tolerate or endure simplicity; he loved it and called it&nbsp;<em>poverty<\/em>. Francis dove into simplicity and found his freedom there. This is hard for most of us to even comprehend. Thankfully, new monastics like Tessa Bielecki, Shane Claiborne, and Adam Bucko illustrate how this is still possible even in our modern world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Francis knew that climbing ladders to nowhere would never make us happy nor create peace and justice on this earth. Too many have to stay at the bottom of the ladder so we can be at the top. Living simply helps level the playing field and offers abundance and enoughness to all, regardless of our status or state of belonging to religion or group.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"292\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.21.39-AM-500x292.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19019\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.21.39-AM-500x292.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.21.39-AM-300x175.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.21.39-AM-768x449.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.21.39-AM.png 1988w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"245\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.18.55-AM-500x245.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19018\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.18.55-AM-500x245.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.18.55-AM-300x147.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.18.55-AM-768x376.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-30-at-9.18.55-AM.png 1564w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Story from Our Community:<\/strong><br><em>I run a food pantry in . . . Massachusetts. During the pandemic, the number of families we serve has doubled, and so has the tonnage of food we distribute. At times the task can be daunting. The readings and resulting prayers [of the Daily Meditations] have shifted my thinking. I no longer think of our work as service, but as an act of solidarity, of becoming one with our neighbors. Service implies a vertical relationship, one above another. Solidarity calls for a horizontal, two-way relationship between equals, one to one. Of course, God is at the center of it all.<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014Tom M.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embracing EnoughnessTuesday, \u202fJune 30, 2020 I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. \u2014Lao Tzu &nbsp; Most of us have grown up with a capitalist worldview which makes a virtue and goal out of accumulation, consumption, and collecting. It has taught us to assume, quite falsely, that more is better. But it\u2019s hard [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19017"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19021,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19017\/revisions\/19021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}