Michael Schut’s presentation, “Simple Living, Compassionate Life,” based on his book of the same name, dealt with our “accumulations” and the severe burden they place on the planet and on our individual lives. In the story of the rich young man, Schut suggested that Jesus’ admonition to the man to give up all his wealth is not necessarily a stern commandment, but could be a piece of loving advice. “The dense shrubbery of our wealth and privilege keeps us from contact with God, the world and our souls,” he said. We have been invited to a new world of deeper living, but first we must give up our anthropocentric attitudes and restore our relationship with all creation.
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Simplicity and compassion have their own politics, argued Schut. For example, we should be taxing things we don’t want rather than things we need. If we taxed pollution and not income, we could radically change the system. “Simplicity has been seriously co-opted today,” Schut said. “Simpler living is a journey, not a destination with a list of do’s and don’ts.” If our motive for simpler living is obligation, we run out of energy. If our motive comes from healed relationship, it can sustain us. Our efforts of self-justification keep us enslaved: we define ourselves by what we have. “What must die is the self we have created, in order to be the self God created in us,” Schut said.