Talk I gave to the Midcoast UU Fellowship

I caused the market crash of 2008 and global warming, I took and ate too much of the pizza…. Maybe I did not personally bring down the entire market, but my actions over the past 39 years have certainly helped. When the news first came about the recession I was filled with both sadness and joy. Sadness for people that worked hard their entire lives, followed the “retirement specialists” advise and had it all vanish in a matter of days. My joy was that maybe now we could get off the perpetual cycle of greed that we are told is what drives our countries economic engine. How then can I take some of the blame for our current situation? When I was growing up we had only the basics and lived just barely above the poverty line. It was my mother and her remarkable financial skills that allowed us to live in a small 3 room cabin with an 18% mortgage, have food on the table and clothes on our backs. The food was not fancy and the clothes were not name brand (the other kids had Levis I had Wranglers), but my mother would cash her paycheck and put dollar bills in envelopes, each labeled for a particular family need. My mother, sister and I managed to get by day by day. We split our own wood, grew some of our food and relied on the kindness of friends and family to get by. We did not have health insurance, life insurance, retirement savings or any money in the bank. What my sister and I had was a mother that instilled an unrelenting work ethic. In addition when I look back, many of the skills that my mother used to help our family survive are now some of my core skills that I rely on today (I split many a log mid winter then and still split my wood by hand today, and continue to resist the temptation to rent a log splitter). What I did not know then is that we were living the simple life. We lived simply more out of necessity than choice.

As I was finishing up high school (My mother recently found an old report card. I had a 50 on a final English exam) a guidance counselor gave me the following advice. “You should really consider the trades, you are not college material”. From that day I set out to prove him wrong. That single statement created in me a drive to succeed, not in the direction of my heart, but in a direction dictated by society. From there I applied to one college, was accepted, took out loans, faked having health insurance, did well, graduated sum cum laudi and went onto my career today as a physician assistant. This is where I lost my way and was duped into believing that the more money/stuff I earned the happier and easier my life would become. I was caught on this rat wheel going round and round, and at every revolution I had the opportunity to step off, but didn’t. I would earn more, buy more then need to earn more. I was putting money into my retirement, but at the pace I was going would need to continue to work and earn more each year in an never ending cycle until…. One day, one moment for whatever reason a thought came into my head. I had everything one could want, a nice big house, great family, two cars and a dog, but I was without a purpose and just spinning downward. My life had become complicated. What was missing was simplicity… I stepped off and slowly began to restore a connection with the most basic human need, a need to be connected to the earth.

As I was searching for a way to restore my connection with a simple earth centered spiritual practice a friend loaned me a book about Anna and Harlan Hubard. The Hubards did what HDT did, but not for only two years, they did it for a life time. As a nuclear power plant was being built across the river from their homestead, they did not walk in the picket lines or write letters. They opposed it because they were opposite to it. What could be more radical than to live abundantly with no need for electricity. They lived simple so that others may simply live. (Elizabeth Seton)

I wondered would a life like the Hubards be possible today? With a family? Also why? Would this be the spiritual connection that I have longed for? So this is where I went.

· We put our dream house on the market. I looked for a job with a schedule that offered myself and family a rhythm. We are now able to share a meal each day, celebrate holidays together, and I am there to kiss my children goodnight.

· I took a 30% pay cut and now think about every purchase in relation to its total life cycle.

· We built a smaller simple home powered by the sun

· We increased our use of local food and products, using recycled stuff when available and started a plan to be self sufficient with gardens and a goat farm

· We decreased our electrical use by giving up a dishwasher, dryer, microwave and television (I wished I was aware of Wendell Berry’s method he said)

“My own idea of an ideal negative action is to get rid of our TV set. It is cheating to get rid of it by selling it or giving it away. You should get rid of it by carefully disassembling it with a heavy, blunt instrument. Would you try to get rid of any other brain disease by selling it or giving it away?”

· I stopped eating meats and vegetables raised inhumanly

· And I began spending time on my own personal spiritual journey.

So I was part of the problem that had been responsible for the crash of 2008 and global warming, but I hope that now I am becoming part of the solution. I do not have all the answers, nor can I demand that others follow, for this is a journey that we each may choose freely. A journey that has been walked by many before and hopefully many more to come. I travel learning from the rich history of the past, but always holding the present close and looking to the future. A future where we can…

· Establish loving relationships with family and friends when society seeks only to separate.

· Embrace and honor a connection with the earth.

· Make co evolution our personal aspiration and hold it forth as the highest aspiration of our species.

· Be led not into Salvationist destruction, but marvel in the earthly wonders that abound all around us.

· Extend a warm embrace when others wish to do us harm. Not “go shopping”

· Deflect the daily influx of violence constantly streamed into our homes

· Follow our heart and be true to our souls

· Be conscious of our footprint on the only home we have and not take more pizza than we truly need.

· Realize that we will not always succeed, but with the help of others we will persevere along this wonderful spiritual journey.

So I leave you with a quote by Fridtjof Nansen a Norwegian explorer and humanitarian

“To require little is better capital than to earn much, the need to earn much enslaves a person, while the ability to do with little make them free. Those who need little will more easily strive toward the goals they have in view and will in general lead a richer, fuller life than those who have many wants”.

So what’s the solution, I know not the answer, but for me it’s connecting simply to the journey. Peace