Are we fools?

Flowers in second hand bottles and animals decorate Asta's home.

'See us go the fool's way
gathering all about us
for a covering, a surety,
a pleasure;
Opiates to fill time's hollow;
piles of things which rot away
or linger near our ankles
to stop us dancing.'
(from 'Simplicity' by Mark A Burch)

I rarely go to the city, which was obvious by my reaction to the city on the weekend.

I felt like an alien or a newborn when I walked through the shopping centres. It was like seeing things for the first time. Everything screamed for my attention; noises, smells, people rushing about, bright colours and flashing lights... there were no windows to anchor me to the real world. It was all plastic and fantastic... the latest this and that, the 'must buys'. If shopping really did fulfil us, as the advertising promises, then there would be no reason to go back to the shops, and there would be little need for them.

I hear that people are sleeping out tonight, at the Apple stores, so that they can be the first to buy the latest iPhone, which incidentally will have obsolescence built into it and so we can be certain there will be more overnight stays in the future!

My recent experience made me realise, more than ever, what I have known deep down for a long time - we who want to live simply must find a tribe to support us. We can not do this alone. We are like salmon swimming against the tide and that is hard work. The more we join together, the more we can stand firm in peace and love, and others will see that there truly is a life giving alternative (for us and the world) - and just maybe the tide will turn. Idealistic? Yes I am!!! Nothing has the right to 'linger near our ankles and stop us dancing', and we have no right to shop with abandon with no thought of the bigger picture.

Live simply so that others might simply live,

Asta x

NB - I am moving back to the city. I will need my tribe!!