Compassionate Living

I have been writing some reflections for the master classes I have been taking this summer.  Seems such a shame to waste all my thoughts on an e-mail to an instructor, so I've decided to post a few here. :D
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            Is simple living synonymous with compassion?  A case could be made that the choices made in simpler living provides for others to live better lives, thus it is a compassionate response.  Yet I wonder, is it inherently compassionate?  Or does the level of compassion resonate with the one choosing the simpler life?  Can one choose a simple life and it have the opposite effect of compassion?

            My aunt knew a family in her church that lived a very simple life.  They always wore the same clothes, week after week, to church.  They had a mid sized family with three or four children, yet lived in a tiny cramped house.  It’s not that they were dirty, just very simply.  Their church community saw a need and began to support the family in small ways.  Everyone assumed that the family did not have the means to provide a better life for their children and the family never corrected the view.  Once the children had grown and left the nest, the parents left their poor life style and began to better provide for themselves.   It seemed that they were the “poor” millionaires. They had given their children a much lower standard of living than necessary.  They took away resources from those who truly could have used them.  Their choice for a simple life was purely selfish. 

            Others may choose to live simply as a matter of “salvation.”  They become self-righteous and look down their snub noses at those around them who do not choose to live as they do.  They carry a martyr’s cross, their simplicity is their suffering.  They are free from the sinful wants of this life.  Or so they believe.  Simple living is not intrinsically, compassionate living.

It is also most important to remember that “Global living doesn’t attempt to impose limits on others.”  (Merkel p 16)  Education and loving examples are powerful ways of encouraging a wider participation in compassionate life styles.  “Lasting change happens when people see for themselves that a different way of life is more fulfilling than their present one. Eknath Easwaran” (Schut p. 11)  If we attempt in any way to force people to comply, or share our choice of a simpler life, we will not be successful and only become counter productive.

            Compassionate living is a fundamental Christian life style.  In Matthew chapter 25 Jesus shows that compassion is what separates the sheep from the goats.  Those who enter into His kingdom are those who have: “done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,” (Matt 25:40).  When one chooses a life of compassion, a life which embraces “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” they will consider how each of their actions effect others.  (dictionary.com)  Thus compassionate living is synonymous with following Christ.  It is inherently selflessness.  If then selflessness inspires simplicity then one could suggest that a compassionate life is tantamount with a simple life. 

            So one may choose a simple life out of compassion; yet simple living does not always result in compassion.