Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Simplicity

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Feb 21, 2006, at 6:11 PM, Paul Abramson wrote:

> I have been reading about Simplicity and noticed that Cecile Andrews 
> has
> written that community is central to Voluntary Simplicity.  Is any
> subscriber to this list a member of a Simplicity Circle?  And does 
> cohousing
> promote simplicity, or does it make life more complicated?

I am deeply interested in simplicity and have used the concept to 
simplify my life in many ways. I still need more (much more!).

But I'm not sure why community is any more central to voluntary 
simplicity than to any other challenge in life. It would reinforce 
one's attempts to go against the grain of the world around them. In 
Buddhism, the phrase is "the Buddha, the Darma, the Sanga" meaning the 
"image of the ideal or the goal", the "reality or the way things are", 
and the "community of other seekers."

Any attempt to change one's life is helped by these three things. You 
need a vision, an understanding that a mountain is a mountain and will 
never be a flamingo, and help from a supportive environment. Some of us 
find this environment in other people, some in books, or even in a 
relationship with one person or one teacher.



Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org