I was talking with two colleagues last night about blogging. One has recently taken the plunge, and is doing a great job so far with amusing cultural references (he’s something of a gadfly in that respect, in a nice way). The other has stayed away, because as he very reasonably states, he has nothing to say. This person is somewhat unusual, in that he is rather one dimensional. And amazingly I don’t mean that in a bad way. I can’t claim to know him that well, but he seems to have his home life set up reasonably well, his career is fine if not outstanding, and he’s presumably happy. He doesn’t really do subtlety, rarely gets irony, has a slow (though good I think) sense of humor, and tends not to reflect on the things we in the chattering classes have decided are important. I’ll emphasize again, none of this is a criticism of him (I want to be clear because I’m sure the folks here who know him will have worked out who it is). He is an uncomplicated person, from my perception of him at least, and is both comfortable and likeable with that. Oh, and he’s very good at what he does.

I suppose I should throw in a punchline to this entry. This little chat got me thinking about the simplicity movements going on in the US and perhaps elsewhere, as typified by the web domain SimpleLiving (.com, .net, or .org). They are all about rejecting aspects of the consumerist society we have created, choosing where you spend your time, prioritizing your mantra, etc. The aim is to become a person who is more at peace with whatever by removing these trivialities that shouldn’t be burdens, and yet somehow are. The idea is extremely attractive to many people, myself included. Yet the one aspect I don’t think they really tackle is the inner simplicity, the ability not just to control the urge to invest yourself in crap of whatever type. And my perception of my colleague, which may well be very different from his reality, is that he already has that.

Enough Hippy Nonsense before I feel the need to give peace a chance or something.