No more racing for a finish line that is never reached

LESS IS MORE: Embracing simplicity for a healthy planet, a caring economy and lasting happiness. By Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska. New Society Publishers. 267 pages. $16.95, paperback.

Here is a book with its roots in the earth that can move you to new places, stimulate ideas and encourage change.

Two simplicity activists, Wanda Urbanska -- author, TV producer and longtime Mount Airy resident -- and Cecile Andrews -- author and founder of the Phinney EcoVillage in Seattle -- have teamed up to bring us this satisfying collection of essays by people who have long been toiling in the vineyards of planetary awareness. They have much to tell us about slowing down, even stopping at times, in order to save ourselves and our environment.

What's not to like about something as apparently innocent as simplicity? Why is there so much resistance to it? Some detractors like to imply that those who espouse simplicity want everyone to turn back the clock, abandon their jobs, grow all their own food and make their own shoes. But living the simple life in a complex world is not that easy. Less Is More challenges us as active, involved people, to embrace simplicity even if we can't return to Thoreau's Walden Pond or retreat like Helen and Scott Nearing to an idyllic homestead.

"More and more it feels like our lives have turned into a grueling race toward a finish line we never reach," says Jay Walljasper, a former editor of the Utne Reader. Less Is More will show you how to divest gradually, to live more in the present moment, while still paying attention to technology, health, politics and the environment. Simplicity is not a turning away; it's a rejoining.

We all innately long to make our lives less empty, to fill them with real enjoyment instead of fleeting, clock-regulated pleasure. One step in the right direction is "Wabi-Sabi Time," as described by Robyn Griggs Lawrence, the editor-in-chief of Natural Home magazine. Symbolized by the ornate ritual of the Japanese tea ceremony, wabi-sabi is a combination of calm anticipation and the gentle bloom of fruition. It's an art we can all practice, with or without the tea -- but "it probably means turning off the TV."

John E. Wear, the founding director of the Center for the Environment at Catawba College, grew and sold produce as a child. "My early connection with the natural world helped direct me to a life devoted to educating others about the environment." Wear writes that "We must reach out to those whose worldview is different from ours. We must … help them see … how living lightly on the Earth is our only viable choice."

Co-editor Andrews speaks with wry wisdom about her personal quest to bring the concept of "less is more" to friends and the public: "Americans are drawn to Simplicity; yet at the same time they fear it." Simplicity calls on us to make less money and more time, time for meaningful conversation and "slow food." Hustle creates a sense of isolation, making us feel small and unimportant. We need, Andrews says, to recapture the sense that we are part of something great and significant.

In her contribution, "Simple Living: Lessons from the World of Television," Wanda Urbanska has written a magical history tour of her well-known TV series. Certainly one of the high water marks for her was her interview with former President Jimmy Carter, who said of the show's central theme, "The message is more needed today than it was [during his term in office]." Carter urged Americans to set an example of efficiency and simplicity for the rest of the world. Urbanska points out that in these rough economic times, everyone is forced to "hunker down and simplify." Perhaps that can become a habit for all times.

Other contributors to this well-chosen collection are Theodore Roszak, Bryan Welch, Cathy O'Keefe, Ernest Callenbach, Rebecca Kneale Gould, Jerome Segal, Duane Elgin, Jim Merkel, Dave Wann, Tom Turnipseed, Alan AtKisson, Matthew Sleeth, Wanda Muszynski, Linnea Johnson, Michael Schut, Sarah Susanka, Bill McKibben, Juliet Schor, David Korten, John de Graaf, Tim Kasser, Kirk Warren Brown, and the Rev. Canon Sally Bingham.

Cecile Andrews concludes by exhorting her readers to "Use this book!" She advocates forming a "Simplicity Conversation Circle" with Less Is More as a focus. "Read one essay for each meeting." Come prepared to discuss at least one idea that moves you. Don't argue. Keep the group small and intimate. Make a circle. Face one another, and then face the world. It's simpler than you think.

■ Barbara Bamberger Scott is a writer who lives in Mount Airy.

■ Wanda Urbanska will sign copies of Less Is More at Page's Bookstore at 235 N. Main St. in Mount Airy from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Call (336) 789-3363 for information.

■ Urbanksa and John E. Wear, a contributor to the book, will sign copies of
Less Is More at a local-food dinner and book celebration at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 at Catawba College's Center for the Environment, 2300 W. Innes St., Salisbury. Tickets are $30 and include dinner and a copy of the book. Reservations required by Aug. 14. Call (704) 637-4294 or email allanier@catawba.edu.