Francis’ notion of simplicity has two interrelated levels. The first is a simple lifestyle in which we focus our external lives around what is absolutely essential and of ultimate importance. The more we fill our lives with unnecessary possessions and activities that divert our attention away from truth, beauty, and goodness, the more meaningless our lives become. In the world’s eyes, giving up the chase for more, bigger, and better is utter foolishness. We can never get enough of what we do not need.
Yet the root of Francis’ simplicity goes much deeper than external behavior. It is an interior simplicity of desire, heart, and mind. Francis lived his life from a simple, singular motivation: to love and serve God and to love and serve God’s creatures. Everything he said or did was organized around this noble aspiration. Thus, his intellectual and emotional life was incredibly uncomplicated, well ordered, and overflowing with joy. Contrast Francis’ enlightened mindset with the world’s obsession with endless desires and the subsequent epidemic of anxiety plaguing so many people. As Francis teaches us, simplicity is the ultimate antidote for the spiritual and psychological maladies confronting humankind. Sri Yukteswar agrees wholeheartedly: “How quickly we weary of earthly pleasures! Desire for material things is endless; man is never satisfied completely and pursues one goal after another. The ‘something else’ he seeks is the Lord, who alone can grant lasting joy.”
Brother Francis,
I wish to follow you
In the path of simplicity.
