...to be simple

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the concept of simplicity. You must know that wonderful Shaker song--"tis a gift to be simple..." What a wonderful song.  Just read some of these words:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

Aren't they fabulous? Did you know that it was actually composed by Elder Joseph Brackett in 1848 as a dancing song? The things one learns on Wikipedia--fascinating. But what is simplicity? I want to ponder this more.

I read in a collection of food writings--(oh I love to read good writing about food. Not only does it take me to a different place--and sometimes make me hungry--but let's face it--good food is both craft and art also)--but I digress: anyhow in this particular essay Monica Bhide asks "Does a Recipe Need to be Complicated to be Good?" Great question. She has written a cookbook on Indian food--OK I'm hungry already--and explains that a reader complained that her recipe was too "simplistic." Note, the complaint was not that the food didn't taste good--it did--but that it was too easy to make. Oh I like that--I don't have time to cook if you know what I mean.

Let me continue, as Monica explains, simple does not mean easy. It takes years of experience, "guts--and culinary prowess" to cook it just right. After all with few ingredients, there is "no place to hide." Now she hastens to point out, that by simple she does not mean dumbing a recipe down. Instead she takes the best ingredients--the perfectly ripe tomato, the freshest spices and the right techniques. After all, she points out that if you have the perfect clove of cardamon, why would you want to add flavors to "muck it up"? Her words--not mine but doesn't it make sense. Her website is HERE and the essay is in  Best Food Writing 2010 edited by Holly Hughes--a delightful book to pick up when you need that quick break.

I think of a recent e-mail I received from a friend. She wrote that she was trying to unclutter her life. To turn off the radio and the TV news. To concentrate on that which is important to her. Essential to her being. The mist rising from the hills. The tender green of the maples. Music. Conversation.  Time in her studio. How wonderful and true that feels. How I admire her guts to do this.

Isn't there so much here for all of us? How easy it is for me to get carried away with technique and design of my quilts.  Can I add just a bit more detail here? What about this block over here? Maybe I should add a few stitches here? Another color progression there? I know there have been times in my journey that I have been more concerned with technique than truth and I have to pull back.  How hard it is to do this. If you make a quilt with just a few colors, the colors have to be just right. The simpler the design the more must be contained with in it so that the meaning will unfold upon further examination. Layers of meaning and richness. But so controlled. So practiced. Simple is not easy.

And you--do you work simply?  Do you think this is important? Do you ever try to unclutter your life? And does this Shaker dance song ever float through your being? Do you ever come round right?

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right