What is in your refrigerator?

I’ve been thinking about doing something great. I keep getting stuck thinking about my special privileges in life. I am richer than a vast majority of the world’s population. You can calculate just how rich you are in comparison to the rest of the world here.

Turns out well over 90% of the world is poorer than me. This fills me with tremendous sadness. Why wasn’t I told. I fault my education and the media for this. This should be the top story every day and every where. I live in comfort and safety, something many people don’t enjoy. Given this it seem silly to muse on ‘doing something great’. I first need to work on being my “best self”. The world is a mess because people are not their best selves, so I can start to help by being my “best self”.

Like a father that can only love his child when there is love in his heart, so I must cultivate love in my heart first. I have a special responsibility to do this because of my resources. In the end, will I have used my time and privileges for ego reasons or to make the world a better place. This must qualify as “doing something great”. More meditation on this subject required.

What really got me started with this is a post over on To-Done!.

This quote seems less appropriate now but here it is anyway.

“Some of my characters now fell more grateful about simple things – breathing, buying groceries, sunlight, because I do. We don’t have to live great lives, we just have to understand and survive the ones we’ve got.”

Andre Dudus, author (born 1936)

Exactitudes

Here is a interesting and in some ways provocative photo exhibit from Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek.

“Inspired by a shared interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups, they have systematically documented numerous identities over the last 8 years. They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people’s attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element.”

Earlier this month I posted about the great book “Radical Simplicity – creating an authentic life” by Dan Price and his wonderful zine called “Moonlight Chronicles”. Today several of us got a chance to meet Dan at Moscow’s independent book store, Bookpeople, and talk about simplifying our lives. I’ve followed the adventures of Dan for some time now. I first saw his photography work in an earlier zine he produced called “Shots” in the late 80’s. So it was great to finally meet him.

Dan’s van. I knew he had an Astro van but I didn’t realize it has a cool paint job. Decked out for the “Radical Simplicity World Tour”. We were Dan’s last stop before returning home to Joseph Oregon.

A little display of the copies of Dan’s books and Moonlight Chronicles zines. Quite a few had sold in the weeks prior to Dan’s visit.

Dan had camped out on Lolo Pass the night before but here looks all cleaned up and presentable talking with Bob Greene, the owner of Bookpeople.

Dan leading the discussion after his slideshow.

I got what I consider a special treat and saw a pre-production copy of issue 51 and 52. So cool to see how these little zines/journals are made.

One thing that sort has me thinking is Dan’s repeated remarks about photography. He said that he considers photography a “taking” and not as meditative as drawing. I’m not exactly sure what he means by this. It didn’t dawn on me at the time but this is sort of how some indigenous tribes must have felt when confronted with photographers. They were familiar with drawings and had seen them being made.

A photographer used to have to “take” an image and the subject might never see the image because the photographer would have to process it and in those days processing images was very complicated indeed. Now, with digital imaging, we can see the resulting images as quickly as we can with drawings.

Does taking a photograph subtract from our experiences? I think it can but I don’t think it has to. Like many things in life, the answer is complicated. It is easy to get lost in the technicalities of image making. It is easy to see the scenes before us and the people around us as subjects and the ourselves as somehow objective seers and therefore separate from nature, people and our experiences.

If instead we empty our mind of the ideas and notions that make us separate from our experiences and look for the proverbial “moon in a dew drop”, we can approximate our images with our experiences. Some images and some photographers can connect us directly with an experience. This transcends the notion of “taking” a picture.

I wish I could show an example here but I’m only a beginner.

I’m fascinated by these tiny homes.

In these times of escalating energy costs, a smaller home makes tremendous sense. In these times of scarce environmental resources, a home that uses less materials to construct makes tremendous sense. In these times of the need to simplify our lives and free ourselves from the demands of too many possessions, living in the intimate space of a smaller home makes tremendous sense.

These buildings are very radical. A middle road might be easier to accept for some.

For more information — http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

“Radical Simplicity” by Dan Price

I just finished reading the story of Dan Price’s odyssey discovering a radically simple lifestyle. His newest book “Radical Simplicity” has just hit the bookstores. Dan is a cross between a self-described hobo and a monk. The joys of the simple life Dan leads are laid to bare in the writing and simple sketches. This book shows us a glimpse of the adventure Dan calls “Creating an Authentic Life”. He doesn’t preach – instead he leads by example with drawings and floor plans. Dan is a true explorer in this mess we call modern society and his story is a great read. Check out his current zine called Moonlight Chronicles.