Simplicity
When I started using autoethnography as a research method and made my autoethnographic data public, I realised that my fellow humans would have many questions. At times, I answer them via email, at other times in my "response to reviewers" (for my fellow humans outside academia: it's a letter one writes to the journal editor to explain how one has addressed the reviewers' comments). I answer them in personal conversations and when I teach (I use my autoethnography as an example). It's a privilege when fellow humans ask questions about my research and my life that informs my research in many ways. These days, especially considering the pressure to publish that academics experience, it is so rare when fellow humans engage with one's works carefully. I'm very grateful to everyone who reads my work. It's humbling when fellow humans say that they feel inspired in some way, when my work invites reflection. When I have received the questions below, I had so much on my mind. To write a short response would not feel like honouring the fellow human's questions, so I decided to contemplate these questions carefully and write my answers here. My answers will be reflective, contemplative. Even though I've been practising this mode of living for over 10 years, researched sustainability since 2016 (the year I started my PhD), have published on this topic since 2020 (the year I finished my PhD), I am just a human being, embedded in a certain constellation of social and natural structures that both constrain and empower me. Plus, the knowledge we produce in the social sciences is not set in stone and final. It's always subject to critique. It's often context-specific. Autoethnography relies on personal experiences, and these of course differ from one human being to another.
What do you have in mind when you write about simplicity?
I think about my life's path and how I walk it, how I travel through life, and how it affects fellow humans, non-humans, and nature. I feel that one can walk the life's path with ease, care, gentleness, experiencing deeply and fully everything we, humans, are capable of (empathy, compassion, joy, awe, wonder, self-transcendence etc.). Or one can walk the life's path struggling. Many of those struggles are a condition of life, something we did not choose. For example, competitive labour market, selling one's labour for money, health conditions (I personally have several), migration laws (I am a British citizen living in Denmark). But I strongly believe in human agency. Human agency is our capacity to act intentionally, within the given social structures. And I think that we can, to some extent at least, choose to walk through life with ease. We can also choose to make lives easier for fellow humans and non-humans, thus alleviating struggles and suffering in the world.
Some believe that we grow via struggling. I have certainly grown via very challenging situations (e.g., my PhD supervisor plagiarised my work, I resigned from an academic position due to harassment). Yet, I hold a view that growth through suffering is a bad idea. Society should do everything it can to alleviate suffering. That's just my opinion. I believe, for example, that it would be great to have UBI (universal basic income), UBS (universal basic services), equally distributed research funding (so that there is no competition), job guarantee, and so on. I think that everything should be easy and simple (but not simplistic). As an academic, I teach things that are scary and complicated, such as philosophy of science. It is possible to explain philosophy of science in a very simple way. One may say that it's still important to understand complexity, nuance, loose ends, contentious questions. Sure. But explaining everything in a simple way creates a welcoming space where fellow humans (students) can thrive, progress, dive deeper into things, ask questions.
What is simplicity for you?
When I dive deeper into contemplating something in the social reality (e.g., business or my own lifestyle), I like to think about it in terms of these four domains: (1) material transactions with nature (think, e.g., resources, energy, waste), (2) social relations (friends, family, personal interactions with students and other fellow humans), (3) social structures (think, for example, norms, institutions, systems such as education and finance), and (4) inner being (the psyche/soul/mind). I think about simplicity in relation to these four domains too.
In relation to the first domain, simplicity for me is all about living with what is enough. It is about my relationships with material objects that require resource and energy to be produced. It is about my relationships with services that require energy and also materials to be provided. My comfort zone when it comes to material possessions and using services is probably much less than what is the norm in our society (I live in Denmark). I find it easy to live with a very small number of objects and avoid using services as much as possible. Simplicity features in many aspects of my practice. I cook simple food from simple ingredients. I walk because I love it, and owning a car would be a burden for me, it would overcomplicate my life. I choose to wear the same outfit every day. It makes my life so much easier, and I don't need to worry about coordinating items of clothing or sorting my laundry. I choose to wear only cotton and linen because they are very easy to care for, and microplastics would be difficult to remove from nature (if at all possible). I choose not to take part in consumerism because life with consumerism is hard (for oneself, fellow humans and non-humans and for nature too). Such life often entails, for example, becoming more aggressive in one's career, not being able to take breaks in one's career. It entails looking after many objects, or decluttering (that may evoke emotions such as guilt and shame). At times, I choose simplicity over more normal sustainability practices. For example, I choose to buy the same basic tops rather than buy second-hand because shopping second-hand is too complicated for me (plus I have some reservations about it).
A much simpler life would be a life closer to nature, then I could grow my own food. But because I don't live this kind of life, I don't discuss it much.
In relation to the second domain (social relations), simplicity is all about surrounding myself with the fellow humans who are kind and caring. This does not mean not wishing well to everyone else, but it does mean choosing carefully whom I invite into my life. I don't want to force relationships and struggle through challenging ones. For example, I try to avoid exploitative, utilitarian, aggressive, violent persons in my personal life and in my professional life. My decision-making process is simple. If someone is incredibly arrogant, aggressive, exploitative, they will not be part of my life, no matter how well-connected that human being is. For example, I had very negative experiences with my line manager in my previous university. I could stay there and struggle, accept overwork, unfair treatment and harassment out of fear, but I decided to leave (naturally, after trying to address harassment via official channels). In such cases, what helps me is realising how many billions of fellow beings there are in the world. Generally, I believe, humans are good.
Not everything is simple when it comes to relationships. For example, stepping on the path of being together with my partner was not easy. I would have preferred if everything was easier, but at times the universe presents one with a difficult situation where there are no clear answers, no matter how developed one's worldview may be.
In relation to the third domain (social structures), simplicity entails, for example, choosing carefully which social structures I want to engage with and approaching the mandatory ones in the least complicated way possible. For example, I choose to completely disengage from some social norms and expectations (e.g., the expectation to dress up, compete, look for a partner, travel abroad a lot, or treat my students as if they are below my level). When I use transport, I choose the simplest route rather than the cheapest one (avoiding consumerism and travelling less helps me spend a bit more in this domain when I do travel). When I teach (i.e., take part in the system of education), I want to make my students' life as easy as possible. When I do research, I want everyone to be able to access my data, to be able to read my works. I avoid complicated sentences as much as possible. When it comes to activism, I choose those forms of activism that are more suitable for my personality, mental health condition and my stance on social change rather than taking part in protests that would result in a mental struggle for me (due to sensory processing sensitivity).
At times, choosing simplicity meant making significant changes in my life. For example, after getting my PhD in England, I moved to the Nordics. Here, systems feel easier to navigate. I fully understand that this is not a decision every human being wants to or can make (e.g., they might be too young to move).
I strongly believe that social systems need to be transformed for greater simplicity. It should be made easy for humans to take career breaks, turn their hobby into a craft business, study at a university (I am against grades and entry requirements), get access to healthcare. I do what I can to transform the system of education as this is where I am, but it's not always easy because of hierarchies.
In relation to the fourth domain, simplicity for me means simplifying my goals in life, clarifying my worldview. It's as simple as writing down what I want in life, how I want to journey through life, what I believe in, where I want to invest my energy and where I don't want to invest any energy at all. Letting go of what obscures, makes life difficult. I have gentle and caring conversations with myself about these things. I set boundaries and say no to things that are not conducive to my goals and desires (including a desire for a gentle and caring society).
And how does its opposite side - complicating something - look like for you?
When I think about the opposite side, i.e., complicating, I also like to walk myself through the same four domains I referred to above.
For example, in relation to the first domain (material transactions with nature), complicating something (in my own practice) would entail living with more. More items, more colours, more engagement with the market, with various businesses, with trends. More devices, more apps. More different materials. More outfit options for different occasions. More cleaning. More work to earn more money to consume even more. More goals (e.g., a bigger house in 5 years). More trips for leisure and conferences.
In relation to the second domain (social relations), complicating would be, for me, to maintain a large social and professional circle. To be in touch with someone just because I'm afraid to not stay in touch (e.g., with some well-known professor). Pretending that I am interested in something that I am not interested in. Creating a persona for myself to succeed. To read the works that I am not interested in just because they were written by a human being in my professional circle.
In simple words, it would be to invest myself, my time and my energy into the relationships that are not authentic.
In relation to the third domain (social structures), complicating for me would be to go with the flow, to allow various social structures affect me. Some of those structures I cannot avoid, such as the migration system. But it would be unnecessarily complicating my life if I chose to, e.g., overly engage with the financial system, with the economic system, the transportation system. In my system (education), complicating would actually be to play the game of academia (pretend to be interested in something I am not, network with persons I might not gravitate to, apply for funding for the projects I don't want to do, compete with fellow humans etc.). I think it would wear me down and take my energy away from what I actually want to do in and with my life.
How does non-simple lifestyle look like in your opinion?
I will use myself as an example and take inspiration from my own life to paint a picture of what I would experience as a non-simple life.
A non-simple lifestyle for me would be to live with more. Many different items of clothing, pieces of furniture, electronics. A car. Jewellery. Taking many things with me when I travel. Cooking complicated meals. Having a wish list. Keeping gifts that don't serve me.
Trying to have a large network and make it work with everyone. Pretending. Chasing career progression. Listening to others (advertisers, professors) too much and allowing them to shape my being in the world. To give an example if this is unclear: at times, the advice I have received was appalling. For example, several professors recommended that I prioritise my career over love and that I don't write with my partner. Some recommended that I put their name on my own works in the beginning of my career (thankfully, I didn't do it). Some recommended that I avoid autoethnography as a method (it then became my favourite research method). Listening to well-meaning others without asking myself how I feel about something. Competing makes life non-simple. Doing as others are doing instead of dwelling my own path. Comparing myself to others.
Adopting some values that are generally praised in society but that I do not like (or have reservations about) makes life non-simple. For example, such values may include competitiveness and being strategic. Expecting linear progression makes life non-simple too. Perfectionism makes life non-simple.
