This guest post was written by Daryl Furuyama of WhiteHatBlackBox.
James wrote a post a little while ago discussing the myths about simplifying your life and he has been kind enough to let me explore the myth a little more. Living a simpler life is definitely appealing. I sometimes imagine living without the hassles of everyday life – paying bills, cleaning the house, dealing with people that aren’t particularly nice. Sometimes I wish I could just give it up and breathe. Just looking at a person meditating brings up feelings of peace and calm that I want in my life.
Now that I have stated my worries and why I desire a simple life, maybe I should take a look at the root cause. Why do I want to simplify my life? I want to relieve my stress. What’s stopping me? The things I do are getting me to where I want to go. I have two conflicting desires and cannot resolve both by simplifying my life.
The objective (if it can be said to have an objective) of zen is not happiness, but to be free from desires. When one is free from desires, he is content with the situation or the here-and-now. When you accept everything as it is, there is no need to have or pursue anything (including possessions, responsibilities, or desires) and one can simplify. There is no change and thus there is no personal growth.
A misconception about simplifying is that it is solely about removing the low value elements from your life. Walt Disney would remove full scenes from his films, not because they were low value (on the contrary, they were often well thought out and entertaining), but because they distracted from the story he was trying to tell. Simplifying should be about focusing in on your story - defining who you are in the context of your environment.
Life is a natural process of exploring new areas and removing the unnecessary. We breathe in and we breathe out, taking what we need from the air and exhaling the waste. Disney’s films are classics because he was able to first explore different ideas and then cut back the ones that didn’t fit. Both adding and simplifying are needed for growth because the two working together produces movement.
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