Listening to Encounter tonight I was struck by the idea of asceticism as removing distractions ("clearing the fog off the windscreen") rather than being about exerting discipline.
It was a climate change edition of Encounter, exploring "how people from three religious traditions have linked their concerns about Climate Change with the ancient teachings and practices of ascetics."
I only listened to the first half of the program on my way home (have downloaded the podcast to listen to the rest later), but even in that time I went from feeling inspired, to despair, to something like hope.
Inspired: Yes, I *must* try harder to declutter, to consume less, and to lead our family into a more 'simple' lifestyle;
Despair: it's too hard - I really don't want to live without creature comforts like evaporative cooling in summer and central heating in winter; it costs too much - to modify our house to be more efficient, for instance, although we have made some starts, increasing our insulation, putting up shade over the west side, having the evaporative cooler empty into a water tank to use on the garden; and takes too much time - I'm only just keeping up with the measly vegie garden I have planted this year, and the clutter, the clutter! How can I ever get on top of it?
Hope: The thing is all those distractions. If I could just clear some of them out of my life, maybe I would have more time to clear the clutter, to make things by hand and from scratch, to expand our vegetable garden and fruit tree plantings.
But what are the distractions? Is it blogging (when did I last write a post?)? Reading blogs? Is it social networking? Do I need to give up my at home computer hours? Is it TV? Is it reading escapist novels? Is it trying to write, or even planning to write? If I gave up that dream, if I settled for my 9-5, 3 day/week job, would that give me more time to focus on the important things in life? Or is that really one of them?
Since I've been pregnant and tired, I have done much less than usual of most of those things anyway, except for probably the two biggest time wasters, TV & novels. All the TV shows I've been watching are finished for the year now though, so that's an easy one to toss over - for the moment. But the fact is it never did take up that much time anyway, it's only because I've been pregnant (nauseous, tired etc) that I've watched more.
And unlike many of the critics, I really do value my online social networking time - not that facebook isn't full of time wasters, but it also lets me keep in touch with people I otherwise wouldn't, even family members who are overseas or across the country.
And, I also value my sitting chatting with my husband after the kids are in bed & chores done, which is often what the evening consists of if we're not watching TV. This, what I'm doing now, is using up that time. But I need time to do this too. To think on paper (so to speak), to keep my finger on the pulse of my life.
Sometimes I fear the biggest distraction is none of these things, but a general tendency to laziness. I don't like housework (decluttering included), and I do like sitting around relaxing - chatting, reading, whatever.
The thing is, I don't think I'm going to change that about myself. And the very idea of becoming one of those people who never sit down, who spend all their evenings in chores, and who have (therefore) clean houses - well, it doesn't appeal. I mean, the clean house does. But the never sitting down? Not so much.
So what is the answer then? I don't want it to be about discipline. I want it to be about clearing away the fog to make things easier, not harder. But I don't think I've quite figured out how to do that yet.



Recent Comments