Making More of Life with Less: Seeking Humility, Simplicity, and Silence

Although everyone wants to live a meaningful life filled with joy, most people seek meaning and joy through the accumulation of material goods, prideful living, or status, and various experiences in the world. These efforts often prove to be unsatisfactory. Making More of Life With Less is about finding meaning and joy through the forgotten virtues of humility, simplicity, and silence. Chapters explore the importance of each virtue, the true meaning of each virtue, and how the practice of each virtue can lead to a vital spiritual life which is also a more joyful, fulfilling one. Pitfalls and challenges to living the virtues are also presented. The author blends concrete examples from ordinary people's lives with his comments on other popular books on finding meaning and joy in life. The result is a grounded approach to spirituality in which the virtues can find practical and realistic application in one's daily life. The themes of Making More of Life With Less are tied together by a simple yet particularly moving occurrence that the author experienced several years ago at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.