"The inquiry into simplicity is among the great holy questions that has been with humanity forever. It brings us to a central paradox: the very contemplation of simplicity draws us into complexity. The idea of living in uncluttered ways, with hearts connected to the undying truths that sustain the joy of life, can quickly become complicated. Once our brains get a hold of the concept, they can systematically lead us into a labyrinth and we may find ourselves yearning for those simpler times when we didn't worry about simplicity. Add to that a plethora of cultural judgments that associate simplicity, or simple living, with apathy, a lack of ambition, even stupidity. We are generally groomed for the showy and impressive life, loaded with material wealth, driving ambition, electronic day timers, cellular phones, pagers, career and social demands that tell the world we're busy and "making it". The old ways of seeking council with the elders and tending to the children can't compete. They lack pizzazz. Simple spiritual practices, such as quiet prayers, solitary contemplation, walks in nature, finding inclusiveness for all deities and gods, are often looked upon as shallow, uneducated, even heathenish.

Behind these judgments, however, I sense an often overlooked yearning. It is no surprise to me there is a large movement in America today toward the question and pursuit of simplified living. Books have been written and magazines created to help people recognize the difference between what they truly need and what they want. Simplicity is a way of making choices, of sorting out desires, of looking beneath the surface to what is truly calling to us. What so many of the men I've worked with find beneath the craving for some object is a primary desire for internal unity - a sense of peace, no matter what external life looks like. What they desire is a simple sense of purpose. They want to see themselves in some essential state, unmixed with the cluttered complexities that overwhelm. them. They want to step out of the image-based marketplace and all of its demands: its excessive cunning, its requirements of wit, shadowy aggressiveness and immediate results. They want to find places where their simple natures are not bullied, where they can let the quiet prayers of the inner realm be heard. So many men want to lay down arms, stop attacking and defending, and slow down enough to make choices about how they use their precious life energy.

Often, along the way to simplicity we are asked to let go our attachments. The self-centered ways of control and power seem to push simplicity away. Simple men are often those who are less attached to their personal identify and more connected to a deeper collective wisdom. Simple men I've known let themselves be creative, often in small ways, with art, community service work, chores and small construction projects. These men are found in the soul's valley, where there is compassion toward all ways of evolution. Simple men do not lead boring lives. They do, in fact, quite regularly venture near the heart of chaos that lives at the quiet center. They touch the creative force that is the basis of life. They welcome unknown outcomes, mystery and serendipity.

What joyous confusion to know the simple truth of chaos. How grandly ridiculous to lean into the feeling of blind and blissful terror. Life, yes, and what of it? Chaos...the mixture of physical, mental, mystical infinity, constantly pouring in the natural world and asking us to play ball. The only guarantee is that chaos will be constant. Running through its nucleus we find simplicity. Simplicity in emotions, in visions, in choices, in grief, in sex, in death. Simplicity is the inherent necessity to sort out unruly chaos and render it into wisdom so that it may serve the people. To put order into life, even in fleeting moments, is what gives simplicity its royal position. The function of kings and queens is to reduce the chaos of chaos, help us find order and purpose."

Going along with the images in the passage above from the book James Churches and I wrote and published seven years ago, my current impression is that our culture is so over stimulated that much of the work now is about regaining time. Learning new ways for engaging in life informed by the ancient task of remembering that allow for our true self and true nature to guide us.

More demands on our lives continue to pull many apart and make the road ahead look exhausted and confused. There is gold in this dilemma. The quest for connections, purpose and meaning in it all sits inside us as a grounded knowing feeding this life.

Being in these times where the lack of time pulls us from nature, solitude, play and wonder. I'm wondering about these confusing ways in our culture in climate and in the youth that keep popping up are teaching and conveying to us.

• Who are we?
• Who am I in heart, soul divinity?
• Who are we when we are not working?
• Who are we in stillness, empty in doing, on this earth in our honored place in the order of things in time with our conception, life, death, and beyond?

Blessed be.

"Stories of Men, Meaning, and Prayer" is available in most bookstores under the Spiritual Learning section. You can also order the book directly from Jeffrey by contacting him at:

Phone & Fax: 303-258-0670,
or email jpd@peakpeak.com
or Mail: PO Box 813, Nederland, CO 80466