Last week was so full. Within the first half of the week, I made the trek to Washington three times, for working - rehearsal, concert, meeting. Then twice during the week, I made the trek to Annapolis/Arnold for massage school. Finally, at the end of the week, two more treks out to Dickerson for Keith and Sarah's wedding rehearsal and ceremony. All good stuff, and all incredibly draining. Each of these drives were an hour each way. That's about fourteen hours in the car in the course of seven days.
I have chosen each of these things that takes me out onto the roads, in spite of the truth that I really don't enjoy driving around very much. While I say I would love to live without a vehicle, I drive as much as I ever have. In some sense, I am working a significant amount just to pay for the car! Gas, oil, repairs...these things really add up, so far as expenses go. But way beyond money, using a car this much also delivers a significant impact on the environment. I know that it is harmful to my own mental health, and to the health of the planet, and yet it continues.
In Pisac, almost no one has a car. People walk everywhere. When they need to get across the town while carrying stuff, there's taxis and motos. When they need to get into the valley or to Cusco, there's the bus or a collectivo taxi. I love this way of life! Every time I go to Pisac, I end up walking at least a mile a day. I never, ever miss driving. My body loves the exercise...and it's much better than the "exercise" walks I take here at home...there, I usually have a purpose, a destination...I need to go food shopping or meet up with someone. Not that I don't ever take a joy-walk there, because I sure do. But there's something about it...walking is transportation there, as well as soul food - the Andes mountains!
But here I am, back in my little town. Driving my car. I haven't taken a walk for days...probably more than a week. Why is that? Busy busy busy. Even my life - which is far more chill than many people's lives - is too busy for a walk to town every day. Or is it?
The idea that has been feeding my soul a lot in the last week is voluntary simplicity. Choosing to live in a way that is simple and sustainable. Choosing to let go of the life that may be convenient and extravagant and easy, and for the sake of financial, emotional/mental/spiritual, and environmental wellness. I'm in love with this idea. I'm reading a great book, "The Circle of Simplicity," which really looks at the ways that our culture feeds the consumerism and excess...not new information, just a confirmation of what I see around me, what I feel ready to let go of.
One particularly interesting idea that the author discusses is the way that our culture encourages competition...the polar opposite of community. While a sense of community may develop around some things...football, for example...there is always a sense of us vs. them. But our culture has a really hard time with community based around the idea of just sharing our common humanity, our everydayness, our lives. That's what I want more than anything. Community that requires no special belief, nor any special interest to gather people. Just living together out of love of togetherness. As simple as it sounds, and as utopian-hippie-commune as the idea may be, it is surely one of the most difficult choices to make. To choose to enter into the difficulties of living with other people, with all that arises...not the norm in this culture that often builds 8-bedroom McMansions for a family of four. Why, here I am, only one person, living in a 3-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms...
I don't have any clear answers. But what I do know is that the more I live in a way that is true to my soul, the more I "fall into the heart," and the more that I feel the barriers between myself and the world around me falling away, the more I know that community and simplicity are of profound importance in the way of life I want to create.
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