Editing Simple living (section)

==History==

===Religious and spiritual===
A number of religious and spiritual traditions encourage simple living.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|first=Helena|last=Echlin|date=December 2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vekDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA92|title=Be Happier With Less|journal=Yoga Journal|page=92}}
|2={{cite journal|first=W. Bradford|last=Swift|date=July–August 1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fekDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA81|journal=Yoga Journal|title=Living Simply in a Complex World|page=81}}
}}</ref> Early examples include the [[Śramaṇa]] traditions of [[Iron Age in India|Iron Age India]] and biblical [[Nazirite]]s. These traditions were heavily influenced by both national cultures and religious ethics.<ref name="shi">{{cite book|last=Shi|first=David|title=The Simple Life|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=2001}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2023}} Simplicity was one of the primary concepts espoused by Lao Tzu, the founder of [[Taoism]]. This is most embodied in the principles of [[Pu (Taoism)|Pu]] and [[Ziran]].<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Tao Te Ching |last= |first=}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2023}} Confucius has been quoted numerous times as promoting simple living.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gain Insight and Awareness With These 47 Confucius Quotes |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/best-confucius-quotes-2833291 |website=ThoughtCo |access-date=7 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Analects |last= |first=}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Gautama Buddha espoused simple living as a central virtue of [[Buddhism]]. The [[Four Noble Truths]] advocate detachment from desire as the path to ending suffering and attaining [[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvana]].<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Dhammapada |last= |first=}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2023}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mark |first1=Joshua J. |title=Four Noble Truths |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Four_Noble_Truths/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |access-date=7 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Jesus]] is said to have lived a simple life. He is said to have encouraged his [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] "to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics".<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|6:8–9|ESV}}: [[English Standard Version]]</ref> He also told his disciples that they cannot serve God and money at the same time, and explained that God is capable of providing them with the essentials for life (food and clothing), so long as they "seek his kingdom first".<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|6:24–33|ESV}}</ref> [[The Apostle Paul]] taught that people should be content with food and clothing, and that the desire to be rich is the cause of many kinds of evils.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|6:6–10|ESV}}</ref>

Many other notable religious individuals, such as [[Benedict of Nursia]], [[Francis of Assisi]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Slocock|first=N.|date=May 2004|url=http://www.tssf.org.uk/attachments/article/219/Living_a_Life_of_Simplicity.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727121313/http://www.tssf.org.uk/attachments/article/219/Living_a_Life_of_Simplicity.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-27|title='Living a Life of Simplicity?' A Response to Francis of Assisi by Adrian House}}</ref> [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Albert Schweitzer]], and [[Mahatma Gandhi]], have claimed that spiritual inspiration led them to a simple living lifestyle.<ref name="shi"/>{{page needed|date=September 2023}}

[[File:Preziosi - Derviş cerşetor.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman]] [[Dervish]] portrayed by [[Amedeo Preziosi]], 1860s circa, [[Muzeul Naţional de Artă al României]]]]
[[Sufism]] in the [[Muslim world]] emerged and grew as a mystical, somewhat hidden tradition in the mainstream [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and [[Shia Islam|Shia]] [[Islamic schools and branches|denominations]] of [[Islam]].<ref name="Cook 2015">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Cook |author-first=David |author-link=David Cook (historian) |date=May 2015 |title=Mysticism in Sufi Islam |url=https://oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-51 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.51 |isbn=9780199340378 |doi-access= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128012740/http://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-51 |archive-date=28 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=4 January 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Sufism grew particularly in the frontier areas of [[Muslim world|Islamic states]],<ref name="Cook 2015"/><ref name="Findley 2005">{{cite book |last=Findley |first=Carter Vaughn |author-link=Carter V. Findley |year=2005 |chapter=Islam and Empire from the Seljuks through the Mongols |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToAjDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|chapter-url-access=subscription |title=The Turks in World History |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=56–66 |isbn=9780195177268 |oclc=54529318}}</ref> where the asceticism of its [[fakir]]s and [[dervish]]es appealed to populations already used to the monastic traditions of [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Christianity]].<ref name=hanson104>{{cite book |last=Hanson |first=Eric O. |title=Religion and Politics in the International System Today |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz4nCOMd8ucC&pg=PA102 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |pages=102–104 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511616457 |isbn=978-0-521-85245-6}}</ref><ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|author=Shahzad Bashir|title=Sufi Bodies: Religion and Society in Medieval Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ArurAgAAQBAJ|url-access=subscription |year=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-14491-9 |pages=9–11, 58–67 }}
|2={{cite book|author=Antony Black|title=The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd1vAAAAQBAJ |url-access=subscription|year=2011|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-8878-4 |pages=241–242}} }}</ref> Sufis were influential and successful in [[Spread of Islam|spreading Islam]] between the 10th and 19th centuries.<ref name="Cook 2015"/> Some scholars have argued that Sufi Muslim ascetics and mystics played a decisive role in converting the [[Turkic peoples]] to Islam, mainly because of the similarities between the extreme, ascetic Sufis ([[fakir]]s and [[dervish]]es) and the [[Shamanism|Shamans]] of the [[Tengrism|traditional Turco-Mongol religion]].<ref name="Findley 2005"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Amitai-Preiss |first=Reuven |date=January 1999 |title=Sufis and Shamans: Some Remarks on the Islamization of the Mongols in the Ilkhanate |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=27–46 |doi=10.1163/1568520991445605 |issn=1568-5209 |jstor=3632297}}</ref>

[[Plain people]] typically belonged to Christian groups that practised lifestyles that excluded forms of [[wealth]] or [[technology]] for religious or philosophical reasons. Such Christian groups include the [[Shakers]], [[Old Order Mennonite|Mennonites]], [[Amish]], [[Hutterites]], [[Amana Colonies]], [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]],<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite news|first=Pete|last=Ascosi|date=2016-08-25|url=https://christlife.org/blog/learning-from-the-bruderhof-an-intentional-christian-community|title=Learning from the Bruderhof: An Intentional Christian Community|work=ChristLife|access-date=2017-05-23|language=en}}
|2={{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/inside-the-bruderhof|title=Inside The Bruderhofe|website=BBC Media Centre|date=2019-07-09|access-date=2019-07-19}} }}</ref> [[Old German Baptist Brethren]], [[Harmony Society]], and some [[Quakers]]. A Quaker belief called ''[[Testimony of simplicity]]'' states that a person ought to live her or his life simply. Some tropes about complete exclusion of technology in these groups may not be accurate though. The Amish and other groups do use some modern technology, after assessing its impact on the community.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@dallincrump/what-the-amish-are-teaching-me-about-how-to-use-technology-aa8bd1816260|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801091934/https://medium.com/@dallincrump/what-the-amish-are-teaching-me-about-how-to-use-technology-aa8bd1816260|archive-date=2019-08-01|title=What the Amish are Teaching Me about How to Use Technology|last=Crump|first=Dallin|date=2018-08-22|website=Medium|language=en|access-date=2019-08-01}}
|2={{Cite web|last=Novak|first=Kim|url=https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/20/unknown-christian-community-in-sussex-lives-without-electricity-possessions-or-debt-10431308/|title=Unknown Christian community in Sussex lives without electricity or possessions|date=2019-07-20|website=Metro|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-01}}
}}</ref>

The 18th-century [[French Enlightenment]] philosopher [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] strongly praised the simple way of life in many of his writings, especially in two books: ''Discourse on the Arts and Sciences'' (1750) and ''Discourse on Inequality'' (1754).<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Peter Marshall (author, born 1946)|last=Marshall|first=Peter|title=[[Nature's Web: Rethinking Our Place on Earth]]|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|year=1996|pages=235, 239–244}}</ref>

===Secular and political===
[[Epicureanism]], based on the teachings of the [[Athens]]-based [[philosopher]] [[Epicurus]], flourished from about {{BCE|the fourth century}} to {{CE|the third century}}. Epicureanism held that the paradigm of happiness was the untroubled life, which was made possible by carefully considered choices. Epicurus pointed out that troubles entailed by maintaining an extravagant lifestyle tend to outweigh the pleasures of partaking in it. He therefore concluded that what is necessary for happiness, bodily comfort, and life itself should be maintained at minimal cost, while all things beyond what is necessary for these should either be tempered by moderation or completely avoided.<ref>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=M.F.|year=2001|url=http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/introlucretius.html#III|url-status=dead|title=Introduction to Lucretius: On the Nature of Things|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301142624/http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/introlucretius.html|website=Epicurus.info|archive-date=2006-03-01}}</ref>

[[File:Thoreau's cabin inside.jpg|thumb|left|Reconstruction of [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s cabin on the shores of [[Walden Pond]]]]
[[Henry David Thoreau]], an American [[natural history|naturalist]] and author, made the classic [[Secularity|secular]] advocacy of a life of simple and [[sustainable living]] in his book ''[[Walden]]'' (1854). Thoreau conducted a two-year experiment living a plain and simple life on the shores of [[Walden Pond]]. He concluded: "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail."<ref>{{cite book|last=Thoreau|first=Henry David|title=Walden|chapter=Where I Lived, and What I Lived For|chapter-url=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/henry-david-thoreau/walden/text/where-i-lived-and-what-i-lived-for|year=1854}}</ref>

In Victorian Britain, [[Henry Stephens Salt]], an admirer of Thoreau, popularised the idea of "Simplification, the saner method of living".<ref name=Gould>{{cite book|first=Peter C.|last=Gould|title=Early Green Politics}}</ref>{{rp|22}} Other British advocates of the simple life included [[Edward Carpenter]], [[William Morris]], and the members of the "[[Fellowship of the New Life]]".{{r|Gould|pages=27–28}} Carpenter popularised the phrase the "Simple Life" in his essay ''Simplification of Life'' in his ''England's Ideal'' (1887).<ref>{{cite book|last=Delany|first=Paul|year=1987|title=The Neo-pagans: Rupert Brooke and the ordeal of youth|url=https://archive.org/details/neopagansrupertb00dela|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]]|isbn=978-0029082805|page=10}}</ref>

[[Charles Robert Ashbee|C.R. Ashbee]] and his followers also practised some of these ideas, thus linking simplicity with the [[Arts and Crafts movement]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Fiona|last=Maccarthy|title=The Simple Life: C.R. Ashbee in the Cotswolds|location=London|year=1981}}</ref> British novelist [[John Cowper Powys]] advocated the simple life in his 1933 book ''A Philosophy of Solitude''.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|last=Powys|first=John Cowper|title=A Philosophy of Solitude|location=London|year=1933}}
|2=See also {{cite book|author-link=David Goodway|first=David|last=Goodway|title=[[Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow]]|location=Liverpool|year=2006|pages=48–49, 174|postscript=, for Goodway's comparison of Powys' ideas of the Simple Life to Carpenter's.}} }}</ref> [[John Middleton Murry]] and [[Max Plowman]] practised a simple lifestyle at their Adelphi Centre in Essex in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hardy|first=Dennis|title=Utopian England: Community Experiments 1900–1945|page=42}} Hardy's book details other simple living movements in the U.K. in this period.</ref>
Irish poet [[Patrick Kavanagh]] championed a "right simplicity" philosophy based on [[Agrarianism|ruralism]] in some of his work.<ref>{{cite news|first=Alan|last=O'Riordan|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/kavanagh-s-lessons-for-simple-living-1.776937|title=Kavanagh's Lessons for Simple Living|publisher=Irish Times|date=November 23, 2009}}</ref>

[[George Lorenzo Noyes]], a [[Natural history|naturalist]], [[Mineralogy|mineralogist]], [[Postdevelopment theory|development critic]], writer, and artist, is known as the Thoreau of Maine. He lived a wilderness lifestyle, advocating through his creative work a simple life and reverence for nature. During the 1920s and 1930s, the [[Southern Agrarians|Vanderbilt Agrarians]] of the [[Southern United States]] advocated a lifestyle and culture centered upon traditional and sustainable [[agrarianism|agrarian values]] as opposed to the progressive urban [[Industrial Revolution|industrialism]] which dominated [[Western culture|the Western world]] at that time.

[[File:Veblen - Theory of the leisure class, 1924 - 5854536.tif|thumb|right|upright|''[[The Theory of the Leisure Class]]'', 1924]]
The Norwegian-American economist and sociologist [[Thorstein Veblen]] warned against the [[conspicuous consumption]] of the [[Economic materialism|materialistic]] society in his ''[[The Theory of the Leisure Class]]'' (1899); [[Richard Gregg (social philosopher)|Richard Gregg]] coined the term "voluntary simplicity" in ''The Value of Voluntary Simplicity'' (1936). From the 1920s, a number of modern authors articulated both the theory and practice of living simply, among them [[Gandhism|Gandhian]] Richard Gregg, economists [[Ralph Borsodi]] and [[Scott Nearing]], anthropologist-poet [[Gary Snyder]], and [[utopia]]n fiction writer [[Ernest Callenbach]]. Economist [[E. F. Schumacher]] argued against the notion that "bigger is better" in ''[[Small Is Beautiful]]'' (1973); and [[Duane Elgin]] continued the promotion of the simple life in ''Voluntary Simplicity'' (1981).

The Australian academic [[Ted Trainer]] practices and writes about simplicity, and established The Simplicity Institute<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://simplicityinstitute.org/ted-trainer|title=Ted Trainer|website=Simplicity Institute}}</ref> at Pigface Point, some {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the [[University of New South Wales]] to which it is attached.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unsw.edu.au/arts-design-architecture|title=Arts, Design & Architecture - UNSW Sydney|website=UNSW Sites}}</ref> A secular set of nine values was developed with the ''Ethify Yourself'' project in [[Austria]], having a simplified life style in mind. In the [[United States]] voluntary simplicity started to garner more public exposure through a movement in the late 1990s around a popular "simplicity" book, ''The Simple Living Guide'' by Janet Luhrs.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Janet|last=Luhrs|title=The Simple Living Guide|publisher=Harmony|year=1997|isbn=978-0553067965}}</ref>