The unintended consequences of abstaining from…electricity

No electricity folks. That’s right. For one full rotation of this lonely planet ,once a month, abstinence from electricity. That is one of our commitments we as a community have made for the year of 2009. This practice is driven by a desire to reduce our carbon emissions which is hurting planet earth and disrupting fragile (and sacred!) ecosystems. It creates the space for us to think about ways we can function and be without electricity for one day. It also functions as a symbol that we are committed to being part of the solution to preserving Our Home, God’s creation. It keeps us aware of the impact we are having on our world and hopefully sensitizes us to continually seek to reduce our consumption of electricity.

As we have begun to practice this we have experienced two unintended consequences from this abstinence. This first unintended consequence of abstaining from electricity is that with the lack of distractions created by computers, TV, music etc one can actually quite easily become quiet and meditation, prayer and the much needed rest we all need becomes a lot easier. How much of our energy is wasted on worrying about e-mails that need to be written or work that needs to be done on the computer? Even though we are over worked and tired and in desperate need of rest and solitude, how much time do we spend in front of the TV trying to ‘get some rest’ and then later feel guilty and equally (if not more) tired than when we first sat down. That is the beauty of no electricity days. They remove all these distractions and carve out a beautiful space for peaceful rest and restorative meditation and prayer. The second unintended consequence of abstaining from electricity is that you rediscover the lost art of conversation, of simply being together and enjoying one another’s company. I remember the first abstinence day we practiced. After some time we all managed to find ourselves outside around a table chatting. No e-mails, no TV, no music nothing. Just pure, unadulterated conversation it was great. Our hope is that you would begin to consider joining us in this practice (some people even do this once a week) as symbol of your commitment to restoring God’s creation as well as rediscovering distraction free rest and conversation. Be creative with how you use that day, eat a salad, play a board game by candlelight, read a novel, look at the stars…(fill in blank) do whatever. I am almost willing to guarentee that after an abstinence day you will feel much more rested than usual.

 We started these abstaining from electricity days because we wanted to be responsible stewards of God’s world. The irony is that originally we thought this would be a sacrifice. The truth however is that we have been blessed with two ‘unintended consequences’ which are actually gifts to us and our community. I suspect that this is somehow the way in which the economy of God works, full of ‘unintended consequences’ which we encounter and enjoy as we pursue the Way of Love.