Voluntary Simplicity?

By Artur Suski, S.J.

What’s all this hype about “voluntary simplicity”? Duane Elgin’s 1981 book Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich put a name to something that had already been gaining momentum in the preceding decades. Elgin noticed a societal trend: a good number of people were more and more fed up with the overtly commercial culture that began to inform almost all aspects of their lives. The “fatted calf” was no longer saved for the special occasion; it was making its way to the butcher’s shop on a daily basis. Elgin noticed that a whole baggage of problems was accompanying this materialistic excess. To list some of the problems Elgin names: losing sight of what is truly most important (the interior life; friendships); the development of a culture of wastefulness, a drastic increase in environmental abuse (to sustain such a demand, something needs to give); and, closely related to the first one, an unhealthy craving for more stuff.

Digital Wealth and Poverty

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

If wealth alone then make and keep us blest,

Still, still be getting, never, never rest. – Pope

Television as a separate medium from the internet probably does not have a future. My own habits are certainly in line with such a prediction. I don’t watch much television, but when I do, I tend to watch it online. Many programmes are now made freely available (with advertisements) by broadcasters on their websites, and I for my part generally find enough to satisfy me on the CBC. Nevertheless, I was pondering a little while ago whether I might open an account with  Netflix. It is a service I subscribed to several years ago when I was living in the United States, and I thought I got my money’s worth. In Canada you can’t get DVD’s mailed to you like down south, but I figured that there would be plenty online to keep me entertained when I needed to unwind after a long day.

Impressions from Venezuela

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

Two weeks ago, I arrived, together with two companions from my community in Toronto ― Daniel and Eric ― in Caracas, Venezuela. We are here to study Spanish and to be immersed in a different culture. There is an informal twinning between the Jesuits of Venezuela and English Canada by which we send each other men for language studies. Fittingly, we are staying in the Philosophate, i.e., the house of our Venezuelan counterparts who are studying philosophy. Apart from the superior and a theologian, there are about ten young Jesuits scholastics here. This provides for a lively environment and plenty of opportunity to converse in the local language. Meanwhile, our hosts have hired a tutor for formal language lessons; we are at it for a total of four to six hours a day during the week, not including homework, making for a truly intensive experience.

I have had the privilege of spending time in several different countries over my life and in recent years got into the habit of writing down my impressions and experiences to share with others. I kept a daily, online journal during my visits to the Atacama Desert of Chile, and last year, when I was in Nairobi, sent around a bi-weekly newsletter by electronic mail. This time around, I have decided to use the new-fangled ‘blog’ (viz., ‘web-log’) technology. I plan to make posts here at Ibo roughly fortnightly.