From the Editors October 29, 2012 Issue

Divine simplicity...or mental algebra?

The Editors

A recent Sunday New York Times article (August 18, 2012) focused on the clutter we surround ourselves with, and came with the battle cry to weed out our possessions. In underscoring the great challenge in doing this, author Gretchen Rubin quotes philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau’s famous admonition: “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.” And then, to further her point, she adds: “Even Thoreau … couldn’t limit himself to a single ‘simplicity.’ ”

Well, if the challenge of eliminating our physical “stuff” is daunting, it might not hold a candle to our tendency to accumulate mental clutter.

The Bible describes this snare all too well: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Corinthians 11:3).

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