“If you have known how to compose your life, you have accomplished a great deal more than the man who knows how to compose a book. All other things – to reign, to hoard, to build – are, at most, inconsiderable props and appendages. The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to be able to live to the point.”

Montaigne

Flirting with simplicity.

I flirt with simplicity. I follow “minimalist” bloggers, watch television shows about decluttering, and I am an Easter/Christmas worshiper at the church of Marie Kondo. To borrow a term from a few years ago, I am a simplicity wannabe. Chapter 4 in Robert Lawrence Smith’s A Quaker Book of Wisdom, “Simplicity,” breaks the concept of simplicity down using a Quaker framework. He explains: “If I were asked to define Quaker simplicity in a nutshell, I would say that it has little to do with how many things you own and everything to do with not letting your possessions own you.” Simplicity and truth live side-by-side on the Quaker path toward “letting your life speak.” Simplicity has no room for consumerism and lack. Simplicity makes room for community, savoring, hearing – for as Montaigne suggests, “living to the point.”

Simplicity: getting in shape for the mind.

Lawrence Smith connects two ideas that are aspects of living to the point. He suggests: “I have come to understand that making life simpler does for our minds what getting in shape does for our bodies. It makes us feel more in control, more centered, more effective. and as with getting into shape, you have to want it sincerely, and you have to work at it consciously everyday.” That makes sense to me. I exercise 6 days a week to work toward a healthy body. The idea that simplifying life can help me achieve a healthy mind supports the lesson that exercise has taught my body. I have definitely learned, after many years, wanting sincerely and working daily are the foundation of any progress I have ever seen in working out or simplifying my life. Rhythm and commitment frame the way.

Making the way for miracles.

Lawrence Smith explains, “At the end of the day, it isn’t the things we accumulate and that have cushioned us that count for anything. what counts is our ability to recognize the small miracles sprouting in our midst and to share them with others.” I had not previously considered the capacity to recognize miracles as a gift of simplicity. The ability to share miracles with others is good to remember, too. Thank you Robert Lawrence Smith. I need all the help in finding and sharing miracles I can get.