We are being drawn into these ideas of simplicity and sustainability for all sorts of reasons: wanting to live and believe a different message that the world is sending, wanting to need less "stuff", wanting to live full lives, wanting to respect the earth, wanting to maintain smaller budgets etc.
I wonder though if in reality, we are being led down this road of exploration by that part in us that feels the pain of disconnectedness; with the earth, with our true identities, with our food...
Maybe we didn't start this exploration with the awareness of our pain, but maybe we have been brought here divinely, unconsciously because of our internal longings to be more whole.
Doris Janzen Longacre writes, "Don't begin gardening and preserving out of duty to your budget and the world's hungry, although it helps. Begin it for joy, for healing." She writes in More With Less in the context of food, though I think her point is applicable in more contexts than that.
This is more than a pursuit to make ourselves feel better about ourselves and our lives (and sometimes in the process noting how others are not doing these great things we are).
Does it not begin with our awareness and acceptance of our own brokenness?
And listening, perhaps to that part inside that is leading us down this road of healing.
Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment