laws of simplicity

There are "laws" to simplicity - of course there are - just like there are laws of the universe - laws of attraction - laws for life. I like simple in our age of complex. Lately I wonder why everyone is spinning their wheels, there seems to be too much angst, and it worries me. 
 

              Facebook, blogging, emailing, MySpace, Twitter, websites for the sake of maintaining a website, the churning and grinding of recycled information - I'm guilty of it too. Why do we do it? Is it self-imposed? Is any of it necessary? I already know the answers to those questions and so do you.

Reminds me of a junior high school play I was in called The Gigo Effect. I didn't understand the full complexity to the topic then but I felt the warning and knew there would come a day. Mind you this was back when electric typewriters were not commonplace and the Commodor 64 was but a baby. Maybe a few hacks were posting on bulletin boards but most hadn't any idea such an electronic world existed. The Gigo Effect? Garbage In/Garbage Out.

I like these laws. I like theories and the art of communication. I like the fundamentals of journalism and the news that brings me just that, new(s) as in "the new" as in something new I can learn. I was once a junkie, and I've got that news addiction under control. I've tried the mainstream technology fads (thus the blog) and I can say that 95% of it (twitter, tweak, twit, tweek? huh? myspace, yourspace, whosespace? who cares?) is but a waste of (my) time.

That said, a self-imposed experiment: limit access, less is more, cease unecessary blackberry activity, phase out the texting, voicemail and email checks (is anyone really so important?), forget the tweaks, unless breaking news, slow the wheels, stop the spinning, "analyze this" and blog that, gimme' a grinding halt, enough is enough. Ah, sigh!

Aren't you tired? I'm tired. Maybe it is time for us to heed the call to a more simple way of life. After all, there are "laws" to follow - if we want to restructure, downsize, regroup, resize, rightsize, newsize or simplisize (made that up). My thoughts - unless you are paid for it or truly find joy in it - then stop surfing, posting, using, buying, watching, talking, mindless eating, you get the idea. On that note, if I haven't used it in a year it is clutter. Recycle, donate, par down. In other words - garbage out - make room for what really matters.
Here are some 'simple' laws should you be so inclined.

1. Reduce Simplicity by thoughtful reduction

2. Organize System of many appear few

3. Time Save time and feel simplicity

4. Learn Knowledge makes things simpler

5. Differences Simplicity & Complexity need each other

6. Context Outside simplicity is not peripheral

7. Emotion More emotions not less

8. Trust In simplicity we trust

9. Failure Some things cannot be simplified

10.The One Subtract obvious, add the meaningful

Maeda, John. The Laws of Simplicity : Design, Technology, Business, Life

my new favorite quote

“Live simply
so that others
may simply live.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

nonduality inspiration

When we turn the mind inwards, God manifests as the inner consciousness.
Sri Ramana Maharshi

All separation, every kind of estrangement and alienation is false. All is one.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Boundary lines, of any type, are never found in the real world itself, but only in the imagination of the mapmakers.
Ken Wilber

Oneness is like the clear blue sky - everything arises, unfolds, and subsides within its all-compassionate love... Everything is an aspect of Oneness. And our quest to know this comes from Oneness.
Abhinavagupta

The world exists only when we think about it; creation stories are for children. In reality the world is created every moment.
Jean Klein

Self-Realization or Enlightenment is nothing more than the deepest possible understanding that there is no individual doer of any action - neither you nor anyone else. Also you are not the thinker of any thoughts, nor the experiencer of any experiences - they happen. When it happens, no bright lights are likely to flash in your head!
Ramesh Balsekar

Sagehood has nothing to do with governing others but is a matter of ordering oneself. Nobility has nothing to do with power and rank but is a matter of self realization. Attain self-realization, and the whole world is found in the self. Happiness has nothing to do with wealth and status, but is a matter of harmony.
Lao-tze

We dream that we are awake, we dream that we are asleep. The three states are only varieties of the dream state. Treating everything as a dream liberates. As long as you give reality to dreams, you are their slave. By imaging that you are born as so and so, you become a slave to the so-and-so. The essence of slavery is to imagine yourself to be a process, to have past and future, to have history.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

To be conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.
Eckhart Tolle

what's God got to do with homework?

skye, my gifted 4th grader, is awake too late with me working on her homework. soccer practice threw off the after school routine, she's tired and now complaining about why she is the only one in the whole wide world who has do homework, blah blah blah.... i remember those days.

so i'm sitting with her and i have my own reading to do - my notebook is open and i'm jotting down ideas that come to mind about God, my conception of God and what a Higher Power means to me. this is a suggested exercise my "spiritual adviser" recommended in my quest to discover the meaning of life :)

i think, what a perfect opportunity to bond with my daughter. one of my favorite things is to get into philosophical discussions about our purpose, about love and about life with my daughters. i lean over toward skye and say, "i'm doing my homework too." well, sort of homework.

her face lights up. she's intrigued and asks, "really mom? you are? what's your homework?" now i'm thinking what a wonderful teaching opportunity this moment is presenting! i want my girls to think for themselves about religion and spirituality and philosophy and the meaning of life -

it is always my intention to avoid spoon-feeding them any of my beliefs and encourage them to analyze and dissect and pontificate about their own ideas and questions about life. i'm excited to see where this conversation might lead. but most of all i'm happy to let skye know she isn't alone, awake tonight, doing her work.

i begin to answer, "well, my homework is a little different than yours. i'm thinking about God and defining who or what God is for me and I'm writing my conception or definition of God...."

skye looks at me with a puzzled expression, rolls her eyes and says, without missing a beat, "yeah, whatever mom, but "God" doesn't have to be defined by tomorrow and my math has to be done."

back to the real world.