By Candace
In the late 1700’s, my forefathers crossed the Atlantic to settle in Pennsylvania, a place William Penn and his followers had established a century before to practice the Quaker faith in peace. In the 1800’s, third-generation ancestors on both my paternal and maternal sides migrated to Iowa to farm, and 150 years later, I also began attending Quaker Meeting.
Quakers practice silent worship, and live by six testimonies: equality, peace, integrity, community, simplicity, and sustainability. I will focus here on the testimony of Simplicity and how Quaker thought and practice have informed how I understand it.
“Simplicity” is the belief that a person ought to live a simple life focusing on what is most important and ignore (or minimize) what is least important. Quakers believe that life should be organized so that individuals are freed from unnecessary material or emotional burdens, enabling clearer attention to spiritual values and to God’s guidance. For Quakers, exposure to Simplicity begins with worship as we sit silently on a plain wooden bench with nothing to look at except bare walls and plainly dressed people. No music. Nothing to listen to at all except the occasional message prompted by Spirit.
Contemporary thinking suggests that the accumulation of bigger and better things will give us joy or purpose. John D. Rockefeller was once asked how much money it would take to be really satisfied. He answered, “Just a little bit more!” However, research shows very little evidence that more income means more happiness. In fact, research suggests that higher income may be associated with less happiness.
Simplicity is not asceticism; it is simpler. I practice it by enjoying a simple lifestyle in the country. By buying things for their usefulness rather than status. By wearing plain clothes and not purchasing more just to have something new. By learning to enjoy things without owning them. By treating everyone as equals with indifference to position, status, or possessions. By attending Quaker Meeting every Sunday, which reminds me of my beliefs in Simplicity and other Quaker values and practices.
The Quaker ideal of Simplicity, formulated in the 17th century, remains contemporary in every sense; and the basic injunction to “let your life speak,” to live each day in accordance with your beliefs, remains untarnished by time. Richard Foster, in his book Freedom of Simplicity, writes, “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.”