{"id":1276,"date":"2007-09-11T05:00:27","date_gmt":"2007-09-11T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/2007\/09\/11\/book-review-voluntary-simplicity\/"},"modified":"2023-10-04T19:51:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T01:51:42","slug":"book-review-voluntary-simplicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/book-review-voluntary-simplicity\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Voluntary Simplicity"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>For years, one of my goals has been to achieve a “pastoral lifestyle<\/a>“. This amuses my friends, but it’s true. By “pastoral lifestyle” I mean that I want to create for myself a life that flows at a slower pace, a life removed from the concerns of the day-to-day world. What I hope to achieve is often called “voluntary simplicity”, and there’s a whole movement devoted to the concept.<\/p>\n

Duane Elgin’s Voluntary Simplicity<\/a><\/i><\/b> is a cornerstone book to this movement, and I expected great things from it. I was sorely disappointed. Elgin begins with a nice explanation of voluntary simplicity:<\/p>\n

We each know where our lives are unnecessarily complicated. We are all painfully aware of the clutter and pretense that weigh upon us and make our passage through the world more cumbersome and awkward. To live more simply is to unburden ourselves \u2014 to live more lightly, cleanly, aerodynamically. […] The objective is not dogmatically to live with less, but is a more demanding intention of living with a balance in order to find a life of greater purpose<\/a>, fulfillment, and satisfaction.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I found this inspiring, and was anticipating a library of practical tips that might lead me to my desired destination. But on the very next page, without transition or definition, Elgin begins to write about “ecological living”. Huh?<\/i> How did we jump from voluntary simplicity to ecological living? And why is the rest of the book devoted to the latter?<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Elgin writes more about one<\/i> philosophy of voluntary simplicity than any practical application. In fact, the book might have been more aptly titled Ecological Living<\/b><\/i> than Voluntary Simplicity<\/b><\/i>. Even so, there are some occasional gems here. For example:<\/p>\n

The hallmark of a balanced simplicity is that our lives become clearer, more direct, less pretentious, and less complicated. We are then empowered by our material circumstances rather than enfeebled or distracted. Excess in either direction \u2014 too much or too little \u2014 is complicating.<\/b> If we are totally absorbed in the struggle for subsistence or, conversely, if we are totally absorbed in the struggle to accumulate, then our capacity to participate wholeheartedly and enthusiastically in life is diminished.<\/p>\n

Four consumption criteria, developed by a group in San Francisco while exploring a life of conscious simplicity, go to the very heart of the issue of balanced consumption:<\/p>\n