Exploring Quaker Experiences: Living Simply

Quakers strive to live simply, focusing on what truly matters. We advocate for a sustainable way of life that prioritises both people and the planet.

"Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effects your style of living is having on the global economy and environment?" Advices and Queries 41

Historically, Quakers avoided excess through dressing modestly, refraining from gambling, and avoiding alcohol. Quaker worship practices are also intentionally simple. We continue to gather in silence, in often minimal meeting rooms, without a formal sermon or hymns. Some Quaker meetings for worship may be entirely silent.

Quakers continue to shun the excess, complexity, and inequality inherent in modern consumer society. We seek to avoid the pursuit of wealth and material possessions. The desire for material gain not only takes up our time and energy, but often comes at the expense of others. More recently, simplicity has been reflected in our efforts towards sustainability. More and more Quakers recognise that the overexploitation of the planet’s resources is both unnecessary and harmful to the Earth.

We asked Friends to share their experiences of trying to live simply today.

Jonathan Dale contemplated the importance of living simply:

“I think simplicity is extremely important as a testimony, as a fundamental part of the spiritual life, because we've grown up in a consumer society, a capitalist society, which is built all around encouraging us to consume more, to go further, go faster, buy more. That is its whole nature, and it's quite difficult to stand outside that. I think the testimony to simplicity is a spiritual testimony of resistance to the world that we live in, and that is extremely important. We are surrounded by propaganda that's trying to persuade us to go in particular directions, always towards growth. As we've seen, we're destroying the world rapidly now because of this whole effort to buy more, do more, go further, and it's individualistic. The consumer society encourages envy, encourages restlessness. We're always anxious. Somebody else is getting more or doing more, and we're not. We're being left behind. That's the whole basis. You have to be dissatisfied in order to know that you need to get something else.That's what consumer society does. In the end, that means that we are embarked upon the worship of a false god. 
Simplicity as a testimony is so vital, because it encourages us to see that, as Kierkegaard says, purity of heart is to love one the thing, and it's the love of God. If you get mixed up with loving bits and pieces, a lovely house and a wonderful car that could go 120 miles an hour, you're splitting yourself into a fragmented series of little things which will keep you away from the fundamental experience of what an integrative force it is to live more simply, and that means not just buying less, but thinking of the way in which one's purchases have an impact on the people who make them, so that one can try to live in right relationship with all other people.”

Annette, from Painswick Meeting, shared her feelings of how living simply can help lead us to living joyfully:

“Perhaps what we should be doing, and what I've observed, both online and in in-person meetings, is that we can live joyfully. I think one of the big problems about spirituality, or particularly religion, is this emphasis that's always on sacrifice, rather than the joy that comes from the sharing of community of faith, of goods, of bartering, all the great things that still exist and have existed for hundreds of years. I just wanted to just make a suggestion about living joyfully, which is how I feel I live.”

Keith Braithwaite questioned whether there is a testimony of simplicity and shared his thoughts on the concept of Quaker plainness:

“I do not think our faith has "the Testimony of Simplicity". What defines the Quaker Faith is an openness to transformation through direct contact with the divine in our collective worship, contact that leads people to prefer living in one way and disfavour living in other ways. But I don't think we have a testimony of simplicity that tells anybody what to do. We used to have a testimony of Plainness. In America, there still are Plain Quakers. I know of one Quaker in the US who works from home. He's mostly on calls which he considers to be public. He puts on a hat while he's in his house, so that he can be seen to not take it off, which is an old part of our testimony, not rendering "Hat Honour". This testimony was meant to separate us from the world. The old Quaker grey was meant to separate us from the world, and also to be an affront to people who saw us. It was meant to be vaguely offensive and bruise their ego and their pride and their vanity, to see us walking around paying no attention at all to fashion and dressing like our grandparents.

One of the problems with the old testimony of Plainness was that friends ended up policing each other. Each of us, individually may be prompted by the Spirit to prefer to live in one way and disfavor living in another way. But I don’t think we should be setting up a "the Testimony of Simplicity" that tells anybody what to do.”