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Why the simple life is not just beautiful, it's necessary - Emrys Westacott | Aeon Ideas
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Back to The Simple Life
Due to an increasingly complicated and hyper-connected world, a lot of people are revisiting and paying attention to the concept of a simple life.
From Buddha to Socrates and contemporaries like Oprah, many people throughout ages have advocated the slow, mindful, simple life.
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Simple Was Boring
In many prosperous, capitalist societies where consumerism, big pharma and supermarket culture is rampant, leading a quiet, simple life is considered boring.
Big Brands continue to persuade everyone to aspire for more and most people fall for that.
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Benefits of Simple Living
- Millennials are showing interest in simple living, in pre-consumerist and pre-industrial ways.
- It seems like a moral way to live and it makes you into a better person.
- The struggle of living simple and frugal builds up new skill-sets, a certain independence and better health of the mind and body, by being close to nature.
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Our Last Hope
A simple, frugal living in nature might be our last hope to reverse the effects of industrialization, population growth, polluted oceans, deforestation, plastic waste and extinction of plants and animals.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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The Meaning of a Good Life
One of the oldest philosophical questions is the meaning of living well. Philosophers have delved into the hidden complexities of how should one live and what is the concept of the good lif...
Plato And Socrates on Living a Moral Life
- The Greek philosopher Socrates stated that it is better to suffer and die than to be corrupted and use one’s wealth and power in a dishonourable way.
- Plato claimed that being morally good has an inner harmony, while a dishonest, wicked person is always at unease, and in a disharmonious state of being.
Morality and Religions
- Believers Of God, both in east and west, believe that good, pious deeds and intentions are rewarded by God; many people do not receive their reward in this life.
- Hindus believe that Karma will ensure that their good deeds will be rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished, either in this life or in future lives.
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Why be a minimalist
Minimalism is a way of eschewing the non-essential in order to focus on what’s truly important, what gives our lives meaning, what gives us joy and value.
It’s a way to esc...
Minimalist living
It’s about getting rid of things you do not use or need, leaving an uncluttered, simple environment and an uncluttered, simple life.
It’s living without an obsession with material things or an obsession with doing everything and doing too much. It’s using simple tools, having a simple wardrobe, carrying little and living lightly.
The benefits of minimalism
- It’s more sustainable.
- It’s easier to organize.
- It’s lower in stress.
- It’s less expensive and less debt.
- It’s less cleaning and maintaining.
- There’s more room for creating, for loved ones, for peace, for doing the things that give you joy.
- There’s more time for getting healthy.
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Simplicity doesn't mean poverty
Poverty is involuntary and debilitating, whereas simplicity is voluntary and enabling.
It is very misleading to equate simplicity with poverty, even if some spiritual traditions have ...
Simplicity doesn't mean rural living
Adopting a simple life doesn't require moving into rural areas. In fact, the majority of persons choosing a life of conscious simplicity live in cities and suburbs.
It is much more accurate to describe this as a "make the most of wherever you are" movement, adapting ourselves creatively to a rapidly changing world in the context of big cities and suburbs.
Beauty in the simple life
The simple life is sometimes viewed as an approach to living that advocates a barren plainness and denies the value of beauty and aesthetics. But rather than a denial of beauty, simplicity liberates the aesthetic sense by freeing things from artificial burdens.