Tis a Gift
Nope, not these kind.
When you think of “gifts,” several images may come to mind. Perhaps you think of the kind with a bow on top. Or maybe you think of various talents—someone who has a “gift” for music. And then there are gifts like health—things we can’t really earn—only appreciate. But as I sat in Church this Sunday, the words to a very old tune caused me to acknowledge yet another kind of gift. The gift of simplicity.
I’m sure you’ve heard “Simple Gifts.” It’s a wonderful tune, immortalized by Aaron Copland in his Appalacian Spring. I know I’ve heard the original lyrics before…probably dozens of times. And never really thought about them. Not in the way I considered them this weekend. In case you’re wondering, here they are:
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
-Elder Joseph Brackett Jr, 1848
The gift to be simple. Interesting to consider, isn’t it? It sure sounds nice…especially that bit about the “valley of love and delight.” (Sign me up!) I love how the words suggest that “simplicity” is something we already possess—at our fingertips, just waiting to be savored. And yet, wherever I turn, “simplicity” is sold. You know…just buy this magazine, this home organizer, this fantastic shoe rack—and your life will reach the simplicity you’ve always craved.
And then of course there’s the movement to scale down. The self-help books, the talk shows—they tell us we’ve become too complicated, and too cluttered. They tell us it’s one of our culture’s greatest challenges. So in order to achieve simplicity, we have to strip down and clean out. Get rid of the clutter. Then you can live simply.
You can tell I'm from the Midwest when "simplicity" causes me to picture wheat fields.
And yet, if we’re to believe the words of this long-cherished Shaker tune above, simplicity is already there. It’s a gift, and we simply need to turn towards it, til we “come round right.” But are the lyrics naïve? I mean, maybe this worked just fine for the Shakers, but isn’t this a different world we live in? Life gets complicated. Families are complicated. Work is complicated. Scheduling airplane flights is insanely complicated. Or do we, as a culture, make things complicated?
Honestly, I don’t know the secret to finding simplicity. I’m pretty sure I can’t buy it or force it. But I think I know when I see it. Around 10:00 Saturday night, I watched my husband fall asleep on our sofa, with two little dogs cuddled around him. I sipped some tea, closed my eyes, and for that moment—simplicity was there. I let it find me. And yes, it was a gift.
Anyone know how to find simplicity? Does it exist? And when do YOU find it?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:16 am
I have a good friend who is returning today from a trip to Arizona, where she’s spent a week at a monastery/yoga/seminar place or whatever you’d call it. The main thing about it: you don’t talk. All week. To anyone. Ever. I know several people who do “this sort of thing,” (you can tell it’s way out of my comfort zone) and I am looking forward to hearing her stories about the week. And I agree, Anne, that all she really needed to do to achieve some peace was “turn round right.” One could ask, “How complicated could life have been in 1848?” but I’m sure it was, and answers to our most profound questions were no closer at hand then. I think of 21st century complications as static. Once you get the station tuned in (“turned round right”?), you can hear the message loud and clear.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:43 am
I have never heard the words to this song, Anne; they’re lovely. Thank you for sharing. Perhaps every generation feels this way: as our society “progresses,” certain things becomes more simple, others more complicated. More thoughts on my take on simplicity tomorrow
November 9th, 2009 at 9:26 am
What a lovely post. Thank you.
It’s easy, isn’t it, to assume that we are each the exception to the rule. “I can’t live simply because I’m a working mom/graduate student/caterer/rock star/pick your reason.” But in the time this song was written there was no running water, antibiotices, air conditioning, or dry cleaners. It wasn’t an easy life back then.
I’m sure that the people from 1848 would find the complications of our modern lives laughable. “My Tivo didn’t record Mad Men. My cell battery died. I was late for a conference call.”
But to answer your question, I’m not sure. I think the first step, for me at least, is to find time to be quiet each day; to collect my thoughts and be without stimulation for even a few moments.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I loved this post! It made me stop and relax and think about the simple things that I love. I think that, above all, I find true simplicity when I stop whatever I’m doing (usually in a hurry to get somewhere), close my eyes, and just feel the sun soaking into my skin. Thanks for the happy thoughts…
November 10th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I do not have the answers, but I adore the questions. Simplicity. What is it and is it something we can strive for or does the mere act of striving complicate things? I’m not sure. For me, the best things in life are BOTH simple and complex. They are simple if you just soak them up (like the priceless image with which you close this post), but if you THINK about it, the layers under the simple rendering, things immediately grow more complex. (Do the dogs need to go out? Did husband help me with the dishes? Did I get enough work done today or this week?) My point is that the mind tends to complicate things (for me) given the chance. But, yes, it is lovely when you are able to sit back and marinate in a moment that is pure and good. I know I am rambling and I happen to love rambling, but I appreciate this artful and thought-provoking post. Thank you.
December 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I came across this post today because I was watching Ken Burn’s documentary on the Shakers (part of the American Experience collection)and curiosity led to an online search. The bottom line is that I do not think any of us would want the ‘simple life’ the Shakers designed for themselves.
First, their founder Ann Lee was an illiterate factory worker in England repulsed by the idea of sex who insisted from an early age that she would never marry or be with a man. Her parents forced her to marry and she gave birth 8 times, but 4 of her infants were stillborn and none of the other 4 survived childhood. This unhappy turn of events added the neuroses from which she almost certainly already suffered and led to an intense 9 year depression ended only when she “saw a shining vision of Jesus” and had the “revelation” that she was the Second Coming of Christ.
Shakerism took hold in America at first because people who did not think Ann Lee was a witch readily believed she was an agent of God as the result of her uncanny psychic abilities and the factthat she regularly “communicated with spirits.” (Remember that ‘spiritualism’ was a huge movement in Europe and America at this time.) Shaker meetings, which sometimes lasted all night, were often more like seances than worship services, and since the ‘shaking’ experienced during dancing and worship was preceded by self-induced trance states, it sounds like it was actually a form of possession.
Ann Lee was convicted that two things are necessary to obtain salvation: lifelong celibacy and an all-consuming devotion to the perfection of one’s work. As a result, all Shakers were required to take a vow of celibacy (whether they were already married or not), wives and husbands who joined the community had to live apart like brother and sister, and their children were separated from them and lived in a separate “children’s order.” [Hitler was a great fan of separating young children from their parents because it facilitated indoctrination: sorry, but I can't help but note that.]
Pretty much a Shaker’s entire life was devoted to work. Everyone was required to rise at 4:30 a.m. in the summer and 5:30 a.m. in the winter, they worked all day, and had but 30 minutes alone at the end of the work day(for meditation)before supper in the communal dining room. Their evenings were spent as a community (singing, socializing, or holding spiritual meetings) and there was simply no place in the scheme of things for that which is the foundation of a genuine spiritual life: solitude, silent reading and reflection on the Bible and spiritual texts, contemplation, individual personal reflection and alone time.
Finally, Ann was known as “Mother Ann” and many Shaker songs make clear that after her death the Shakers worship HER, not God: some of the songs speak of being pure enough to be fit to have ‘Mother’s spirit cover me,’ and the gifts they speak of, including the ‘gift of simplicity’ are spiritual states allegedly given to them by the spirit of deceased Mother Ann.
In short, despite the fact that the Shakers produced beautiful architecture, furniture and crafts — and were pacifists and genuine egalitarians — the reality remains that they were also cultists who were brain-washed into a ‘lockstep’ communal life which no genuine lover of God would or should want for her family or loved ones.
Thought you ought to know.
Diane