Simplicity
A while ago, I gave workshops about the art of simplicity. Simplicity is a wonderful experience. Ironically, getting there is complicated. Somebody who has achieved simplicity may be tempted to say, "it is simple; just simplify yourself". No way, Jose! Dig deeper, and you'll find a fight behind every story.
If you ask around, “what is simplicity, and how do I simplify my life?”, you will get different answers, and most of those will be around the subject of having less things, having less responsibilities, less stress, less this and less that. Some spiritual teachers will agree that we are on the right track by engaging the less-is-more lifestyle. They might be talking not only about things and surroundings, but also about pride, self-righteousness, anger, resentfulness, envy, unforgiven issues. That is a different ballgame, but that is where spiritual freedom starts making sense. Other spiritual teachers will go deeper into the subject and say that what you have to lose is the "I”, the me-identity. Why do they say that? Because once we lose the me-identity, then clarity, freedom, stillness and peace remains.
In other words, at the core, there is peace and stillness, and its aftermath is simplicity. A wonderful quiet. A presence that enjoys life as it is, as it happens, and perceives everything through the eyes of simplicity.
The me-identity is a construction of the mind. Likewise, the mind may create a concept of what is simplicity, a simple life, but that is just a construction of concepts. It isn’t until the mind is quieted that simplicity is perceived in any and all situations of life.
Life is beautiful, tough and complicated. Yet, beyond our perception of our own experience, there is a reality, a Oneness that embraces all of life as it is. Until you are past your own experience, perceiving not from ego but from presence, and have no judgment on what is complicated and what is simple, once you jump that hurdle, then simplicity appears by itself.
Once you are in peace, then the perception of life, and life, are simple. Not because life is simple, but because you made peace with life as it is.
Simplicity, Peace and Love,
Konrad