of voluntary simplicity

My mood varies according to what sort of person I dialogue with. Dialogue and communication has become a central feature of my development, and conversations with people who share some of my ideals give me strength, while conversations with others leave me frustrated, feeling caged up. I feel more idealist, more radical, less patient with those who haven't reached this point in their thinking, longing for practical actions building an alternative, longing for those social networks that will give me the energy to do so.
It was good to meet up with M. again after the christmas break. I saw her on Monday evening, Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon and we had long conversations each time. We have now reached the friendship stage and we share so many conceptions of what we want our life to be that it's always heart warming to talk with her. She and a flatmate of hers have decided to launch their Project 2015 which would involve building up a linked town-countryside community. I said I'm in. She lent me all her books on Utopia research and alternative community. I like the fact that we have one book in our communal property - the history of Longo Mai we got at Ulenkrug.

Cooking dinner yesterday with psychology-student C. also reinforced my optimism. She is also a utopist who believes in alternatives to most widespread conceptions of what "normal life" is. She was enthusiastic about the idea of my seminar on political utopia, and we talked about it for a while. She thought part of it could be used as a creative workshop to let students define what their own utopia is. I find the idea interesting as it would fit in the progression of my plan - What theorists thoughts, what practicioners did, what do you want to do? It would be too much to have a whole creative session, but I'll keep the idea in mind. We discussed the theory aspect for a while, and she also reckoned the context in which utopias were developed was definitely important to be able to compare with our present situation. Unfortunately she probably won't be here next winter. I would like to get all sorts of people involved in this project, create a real dynamic around it, at least have them prepare bits of it with me. Mister Big and Important's expertise in intellectual history and linking ideas across disciplines would definitely enrich the theory part.

Sharing a belief in the possibility of creating one's own utopia isn't the only link I've found that keeps me interested in talking with people these days though. Last weekend at Sweet A's party I talked for a while with her school friend M2. [using only the initial of names to keep everyone's anonymity is probably more confusing than anything. Perhaps I should just start making up other names.] M2 isn't an explicit utopist although she does long for something other than a life spent working one's self to death for a boss. But what we most strongly shared was a common attraction for self-made everyday goods - the satisfaction one gets from eating or using something one produced. I don't really understand why it seems to senseless and ridiculous to most people. In turn, I don't understand why the idea of sitting in an office producing reports that serve no purpose for society doesn't appear absurd, ridiculous and senseless to most people. It's not that I don't think labour repartition is a good thing - it's more that I don't see the point in producing goods that do not cover anybody's real needs. And also that I don't want to specialise and have only one profession for the rest of my life. I want to be a farmer, a carpenter, a researcher, an architect, a photographer, a thinker, a traveler, an educator, a musician...

Of course, one person's Real Needs and priorities are different from another's and I'm not hoping that everybody will suddenly think "Hey cool man, let's live in the countryside and produce most of what we need!". But I do find it important that everybody sees what priorities and principles they have, and what is really important to them - and start making steps towards living accordingly. I can accept a certain amount of what others would call 'deprivation' (no tomatoes all year round! No goods that have traveled half the world? As little prepacked and overpacked goods as possible - not supporting supermarkets and big chains - ...) because to me they are not deprivations but logical consequences of my priorities - to live as little as possible off the unnecessary exploitation of others and of the environment. However, I've always felt that voluntary simplicity and partial self-sufficiency had a certain charm, even before I had any explicit political principles. I wonder where it comes from.
Here's an interesting link to keep those french speakers around occupied (thanks to my old friend Xa for mentioning the movement to me a few years ago).