We mention simplicity often enough, but it’s another matter to form a clear idea of what simplicity as a response to Jesus might actually ask of us in our time and in our individual circumstances. For most of us, by the time we came to any awareness of contemplative life and prayer, we had already been long committed to all manner of complexities and compromises in our lives and relationships and possessions, and obligations. Perhaps we are hoping Jesus’s call to simplicity is not as demanding or uncompromising as it sometimes sounds. (Take only one pair of sandals, etc…) A couple of reminders, then…
The first is that Jesus teaches at the level of our hearts – what he gives us is not another law, not a set of practical instructions about our lifestyle or our possessions. He gives us primarily an invitation to walk his road in his company, to think his thoughts, to share his reactions. If the simplicity of this bond changes our lives over time – and of course it will -- it is because our hearts are now telling us that such change is what we want. And that’s good -- our hearts are consenting.
And secondly, we remind ourselves that the prayer we practise, silence and stillness, is itself already a radical exercise in simplicity. We are learning how little depends on us anyway – not even beautiful words -- that all prayer in the end is a matter of joining the eternal prayer of Jesus, a prayer of love and unity. We are shedding our illusions of control.
So… Blessed are the poor in spirit, he says… blessed are the pure in heart… He calls in question much of our superfluous speech – Let your word be Yes, or No… (Matthew 5:3, 8, 37 – that would tidy things up a bit!) Paul advocates simplicity also in the life of the community – Live in harmony… associate with the lowly… do not claim to be wiser than you are…. Be wise in what is good, writes Paul, and guileless in what is evil (Romans 12:16; 16:19).
One of the Desert Fathers, Abba Arsenius, famously said: I have often had to repent of having spoken, but never of having kept silent. Simplicity was cultivated in the desert spirituality of those early centuries, with great relief (although it was often overdone or distorted), because it was so different from life in Rome or Alexandria, and from life in the church. The desert priorities are equally different from most of the life familiar to us.
Christian Meditation is one exercise in simplicity because we are taking the attention off ourselves, and in the process we are learning to be more selfless, more generous, kinder, more loving, in our daily lives. We come to learn the essential elements of Jesus’s way better because we are understanding them now from within. This is what poverty of spirit means, setting self aside, becoming poor in spirit. So Christian Meditation is not primarily about relaxation, it’s not mindfulness, it's not about feeling good, de-stressing. These may indeed be by-products of meditation, they’re not the purpose of meditation. The purpose of Christian Meditation is that we should become his disciples – imperfect but wholehearted. We learn… or perhaps more accurately, we discover… a new inner humility and gratitude.
Ageing too can assist the grace of simplicity. Maybe we shed possessions, however timidly – but if we can’t bear to be parted from the lumber of former years, then that certainly suggests spiritual sclerosis. We work out simplicity in our own ways. It’s best done with a sense of humour.
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