Do you have a simple life?

I have always opted for the simple. Being simple myself. Simple in the way I think, and live, I would like to claim. And because I do not want to complicate my life, I do not hook myself on the different applications in my gadget. 

And even if I have a good load of memory in my phone, I do not have the same storage in my mind. I refuse to get my brain hanging where I would just sit agape in wonder…loading nothing.

So I do not over think. I do not over surf. I do not over connect. But the presence of digital media has made things move faster, and even though I would prefer to just sit in the garden on my free weekends, and feel the soft and cool texture of the soil as I begin to pot my small herbal plants, as part of my relaxation and de-stressing therapy, I find myself flipping now and then at the messages on my phone, and searching for the uses of the plants I am cultivating.

Although not all things on the net is to be believed, we have to admit that the information that we gather there is often useful. Whether or not it is the truth, it somehow stimulates one to search and dig deeper, to verify and segregate what is a credible supposition and what is fallacy.

And that to me is the main point of having so much data. For us to discern. To be able to separate the truth from the pseudo-realities. But how do you do that?  How will you know the difference? 

Curiosity did not kill the cat. The cat died out of stupidity. Had it known that the wire it was playing with was live then he would not have touched it. Had the fur ball not crossed the street in heavy traffic to pounce on a wiggling object, it would not have been hit by a fast car and possibly saved its life. A cat does not have nine lives but it has a very agile body so that it can land its fours even if it falls from a high tree. With this good workout, it has a strong set of paws to climb and claw. A cat has highly sensitive sensors in its whiskers that is why it can measure space and know whether it can fit into the small gaps to chase after a mouse or to slip away from a hound. 

But I am not here to talk about cats. In fact, I had no intention to get immersed in more than nine other qualities that may substantiate the myth of its having nine lives but let me encourage you to dig deeper yourself if you want to really satisfy your own curiosity. 

Then perhaps when you are satisfied with learning about cats, you can now bring yourself to study the more important things like why did God allow us to have all these information when He did not even want the people in Babel to have the same language so they would not be able to communicate easily? Why did He later on want everyone to know about the truths in the Bible and yet have some countries go against teaching it. Why is it so hard for us to read the Bible or believe in the Gospel and so easy for us to find answers we want in other books?

That is the importance of critical thinking. And that would involve freeing one’s mind of all other things so that it is able to focus on the important. Just like in business. We need focus in life. 

I recall a friend asked me why his brother was so giving to others. He said it made them lose some of the gains they were supposed to make in their business. For my friend, his brother’s practice of faith was not consistent with their business practices. So instead of searching the Bible, my friend studied other faiths. Instead of understanding his own beliefs, he looked into the religions of others and got more confused. He was looking for answers to his faith in another reference. Funny, so like the cat. 

As he did so, he became more discontented, and his brother maintained the little profit he gained in his business and was happy. My friend worked harder to build greater wealth and looked old.

There is a secret place in the Bible. The laws to gains are found in the book of Malachi.  If you need your gadget to search it, download a Bible Ap and dig deeper. The Bible has a credible writer. It has withstood the test of time. Its truths never change. Our God has never changed. He predicted our being connected. He prophesied our inventions. He even gave us a roadmap to His grace and to damnation. 

They were explicit. Simple. And in this context I wish I were the simple person I started to talk about at the beginning of this article. Not gullible but wise. For a simple mind is free of adulterations. Free of complications. Heavy on faith.

In our school, Silliman University, our core values were centered on via veritas vita. The way, the truth and the life. Jesus said that. And it was as simple as that. Believe in that simple truth of His  dying for us, His redeeming us. It sounds simple. It is simple. But I guess, the demonstration of faith will give simplicity its greater value.

Now we continue to live, daily grueling about the conflicts at work. The net worth we want to build so we may live comfortably when we grow old.  And in all the stress, we either grow old faster or do not grow old at all.

I want that simple life. Where I can tend my plants, enjoy the flowers, and pick the fruits when they are ready.