QUERIES ON SIMPLICITY AND MODERATION
Friends believe in simple living. This has historically meant simple dress, plain speech, and unadorned meeting houses for worship. Through the simplicity testimony, Friends encourage one another to look beyond the outward and to the inward. Friends try to live so that activities and possessions do not get in the way of open and unencumbered communication with others and with one’s own spirituality.
- In our speech, we avoid distortion and exaggeration.
- In our work, simplicity requires focusing our efforts on what is most important rather than diffusing our energies too broadly.
- In our personal lives, simplicity may mean limiting our consumerism—and resisting over-commitment, so that we have time to care for ourselves and to be present with one another.
1. What do simplicity and moderation mean? How can we live more simply and moderately every day? If we lived more simply, how might the world become more beautiful?
2. Do we sometimes have too many things to do? What are some things that take up a lot of our time? Are they necessary? Can we moderate them?
3. Do we find time in our busy days to help others? How do we find time to relax and be still and quiet?
4. Do we really need all the “stuff” we own? How does what we have compare to what people have in other neighborhoods, towns, or countries? How can I be more thoughtful about what I need and what I acquire?
5. When we relax, do we try to do things that make us feel good and exercise our minds and bodies? Do we respect our bodies and avoid doing things that will harm them?