Simplicity Day

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
-- Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity Day on July 12th celebrates the birthday of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) who encouraged us to simplify our lives.

Check out the following videos and resources about this remarkable movement:


AFFLUENZA - Soundtrack to VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture.

This video clip is a collage of scenes from the documentary posted next below



Watch the entire documentary:

VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture documentary explores the philosophy behind Voluntary Simplicity, what potential or significance it has as a quietly emerging social movement and what its limitations might be.

Global Pandemy in its entirety - a 15-year-old documentary about what began as a trend in the US but now has spread all over the world. We are not considered to be citizens any more, we've been turned into simple consumers, with no other rights than the ones that corporations let us have, if so. There's no space for humanitarian behavior or for critical thinking. The greeding controlling minorities have deceived most of us to believe that we're free to choose a better life, and that the so called better life is measured in terms of properties, of things that we own. No matter if we don't have enough money, that's what Credit's been made for. If other people are suffering, we've been trained to ignore it because «That's not our business». Everything is business, and so, that way, we want to reach happiness. But the fact is that there's no happiness in material belongings. That's why we always are looking for more. And it's never enough. When we have reached to that point, then we are doomed, for we have been infected and controlled by this selfish way of surviving. We are not living anymore, we're just surviving, because we're sick. We suffer AFFLUENZA. And man... we DO SUFFER...

Adventures in Simplicity - A video montage created specifically to accompany an audio Plunderphonics track, created in 2008 on the topic of voluntary simplicity.



(Part II: forthcoming)





Simplicity - When we are connected with the Universe, we realize that the small feelings in life are the ones that have the ability to make us happy.



Further Resources from LPF:

LPF Blog Post on The Story of Consumerism

Hunger Awareness Meal - This experiential meal illuminates hunger and poverty in the world.

Treasures in Heaven, Treasures on Earth

Reclaim the Season! - Peace & justice living and giving especially appropriate at Christmas; useful throughout the year.

Other Resources:

Simple Living - defined

Simplicity Day of Event Coordination on Facebook

Alternatives for Simple Living

Simple Living America

The Simplicity Resource Guide

Choosing Voluntary Simplicity

About Simplicity Day

Simplicity Quotes 1, 2

Quick Action Needed on War Supplemental

War Supplemental Expected in the House This Week
Supplemental spending for the war in Afghanistan will be voted on later this week, perhaps as early as Wednesday. The Majority Whip sent out a whip question Friday asking Democrats whether they would vote in favor of a) the Afghanistan war money, and b) all the other supplemental funding, a sign that a vote is imminent.

Please contact your Representative, and ask him or her to 1) vote "NO" on the war money 2) co-sponsor the McGovern bill and vote for a corresponding amendment, requiring the President to establish a timetable for military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Call:
The Capitol Switchboard is 202-225-3121. Ask to be connected to your Representative's office. Try to get the Foreign Policy Legislative Assistant on the phone; tell whomever you get to speak with that you urge the Representative to vote no on war funding and to co-sponsor McGovern's bill and vote for McGovern's amendment; try to get them to say how the Representative will vote.
Please report back to us any result of your query at the following two places: for LPF, please email ggersmehl@hotmail.com and if you can, also send your email to: www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern

for more information see: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wh0LUZik0%2BkRJ7ICYIHKwyN%2BUO6c5syB
Lutheran Peace Fellowship, www.lutheranpeace.org, Afghan Resources