Decluttering to Live

Continuing with my thoughts about living from the center of things, I want to unpack the following statements:

I want to live from the center of things.

I want to let go of the clutter in life in order to experience simple and straight-forward living.

We live in an age of extreme excess, whether in things, relationships, or endeavors.

We have so many things available to us that we no longer have clarity and discernment about what is really needful in life. We can apparently buy our happiness by filling our storage bins with more and more items. ‘If only I had that new bike, iPhone, or purse,’ we wrongfully reason, ‘my life would be more fulfilled.’ We are overcome by the deceit of satisfaction through owning or consuming.

We have so many relationships available to us that we no longer have clarity and discernment about what true friendship and intimacy is all about. The power of vehicular transportation has put us in touch with so many more people than previous times. The apparent wonders of the internet, particularly social networking websites like Facebook or MySpace, have put us in contact with people we otherwise would have no connections with. Our relationships lack depth and could be compared more to the maddening exercise of spinning plates.

We have so many endeavors available to us that we no longer have clarity and discernment about purpose, activity, and rest in our lives. ‘What should I do?’ is an all-pervading question in our lives, whether it relates to the coming weekend or the undefined future years. The possibilities of careers are mind-boggling. The possibilities for our vacations are only limited by finances (or willingness to go into debt) and our will to do them.

The sheer mass of options in life is stripping us of true living and papering us over with clutter.

Our lives are crushed into a sort of death through the mass of excess.

But what if we chose to simplify our days by limiting ourselves?

What if we chose to live in an uncluttered way that cut against the grain of society and our age?

What if we said ‘no’ to more things, to more relationships, and to more endeavors?

What if we chose a more narrow and simplified path that would give life to our otherwise frenzied, cluttered, and empty lives?

I want to live from the center of things.

I want to let go of the clutter in life in order to experience simple and straight-forward living.