Study Simplicity by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 23, 1903

Study Simplicity

By L. A. S.

L. A. S.

ONE of the most profitable studies a person living in the midst of our complex civilization can pursue is the study of simplicity. He will not need to go away to any school; the study can be pursued at home. Indeed, at home is the very place where simplicity most needs to be studied.

The question is sometimes raised as to whether men are better off for being civilized than they would be in a savage state. Absurd as such a question may seem, there is a considerable degree of reason back of it; for unquestionably the uncivilized portion of the race are in general better off than their civilized brethren in many important respects. Their life is better in many ways because it is simpler.

There is such a thing as too much civilization. The Creator made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions. He has discovered and brought into his life many things without which he would be much better off.

Highly civilized people frequently have to stop their work and get away from civilization in order to recuperate from nervous exhaustion. They have to get away from the cities, and for a time adopt a life that is more or less in imitation of the life of savages. They have to come more closely into touch with nature, and give room in their bodies and minds for the freer working of nature’s laws. This is in itself an evidence that modern civilization does not constitute the ideal mode of existence.

The room for greater simplicity in the life of the average individual is as abundant as is the need of it. For example, in the matter of eating, there is an enormous expenditure of time and energy that is worse than wasted. Man is an animal; but he seems to have forgotten the fact. For while all other animals live upon a simple diet, the diet of most human beings is quite the opposite; that is, in civilized lands. Such was not the design of man’s Creator. What person having common sense can suppose that while the diet of the horse, the dog, the cow, and other animals, both domestic and wild, comprises not more than three or four different articles of food, it was intended that in man’s diet there should be three or four hundred? Originally man lived on a diet of fruits and grains,

and there was not a French cook or a cook-book in the world. But now, human beings put into their stomachs all sorts of complex preparations representing a great expenditure of time, money, and effort, and are sick in consequence, and pay out fortunes to the doctors. A deranged digestion is the foundation of most modern maladies. What is the matter?—Too much civilization.

We may well adopt the sentiment in Byron’s Apostrophe to the Ocean—“I love not man the less but nature more”—in the matter of eating. Natural products are the best, and the less treatment an article of food needs at the hands of man to prepare it for the human digestion, the better and more healthful it is.

Then there is the matter of dress. Who will seriously contend that there is any real need of the enormous amount of time, money, and energy which civilization devotes to this object? What is dress for?—Plainly, it is for a covering and for warmth. These two purposes could be realized without any great departure from the pathway of simplicity, but Fashion steps in and says, Dress is chiefly for show; and Fashion has gained control in civilized lands, and decrees that so much time, means, and effort shall be expended, on the part of many, in dressing for display that but little is left for other and higher purposes.

Dress should be a secondary matter. It is not a primary purpose of life. The attention of an individual should not be concentrated on it, and therefore a person’s dress should be such as does not occupy the mind of the wearer nor attract the attention of others. Here again, how much would be gained in every way if people were only willing to practice simplicity.

Then there is also the matter of general housekeeping. Who does not know the busy housewife who is so engrossed with household cares that she has no time for anything else? Before anything and everything else, in her mind, the “work” must be done. But is there any warrant for having so much work to do in the home that every other occupation of mind and body is crowded out? The Word of God does not warrant it, surely. Here again is the place to study simplicity.

We need to study simplicity because we need to live; and a ceaseless round of getting things to eat, things to wear, and keeping a house fit for the inspection of critical neighbors, is not life. There are unfortunate people in the large cities who spend their time in sweat shops, working hard and ceaselessly from early morning until late night for just enough compensation to enable them to keep up an existence and perpetuate their misery. We are inclined to wonder why they have any desire to perpetuate an existence so devoid of real life. But there are other persons not so reduced in fortune who are bound by a slavery which, though on a higher plane of life, is no less real,—persons who wear themselves out in a ceaseless round of cooking, dressing, and housekeeping that is up to the standard of modern civilization. To these things they devote every hour of time and every energy of mind and body. Is this life? What sane person can suppose that the Creator placed man upon the earth for such a purpose as this? The trouble is, too much civilization: too little simplicity.

Of course, there is the familiar “must be done” and “can’t do without it” argument; but people find they can do without many things when they have to; and if people would courageously and resolutely seek to curtail their supposed necessities, they would be surprised to find how far they could go in this direction without suffering any harm.

We are in this world to learn, to grow, to develop; to know Him whom to know aright is life eternal. In this way we make use of this life to prepare for the future life that is unending. To study God and to have communion with him through his Word and through his works, and through co-operation with him in the work of uplifting mankind,—this is life. This we can not afford to do without. It is to gain this that we need to study simplicity.