"Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effects your style of living is having on the global economy and environment?"
- Advices and Queries #41
The heart of Quaker ethics is summed up in the word ‘simplicity’. The testimony of outward simplicity began as a protest against the extravagance and snobbery which marked English society in the 1600s. In whatever forms this protest is maintained today, it must still be seen as a testimony against involvement with things which tend to dilute our energies and scatter our thoughts, reducing us to lives of triviality and mediocrity.
Simplicity does not mean drabness or narrowness but is essentially positive, being the capacity for selectivity. Thus simplicity is an appreciation of all that is truly helpful in our lives.
The principles of Simplicity and Equality are clearly evident in our burial grounds, where the uniform footstones and simple inscriptions show the Quaker belief that all men and women are equal in the sight of God. Southampton's Quaker burial ground, formerly known as 'the old cabbidge plot', can be found on The Avenue, across from No.77.
Quakers do have something very special to offer the dying and the bereaved, namely that we are at home in silence. Not only are we thoroughly used to it and unembarrassed by it, but we know something about sharing it, encountering others in its depths and, above all, letting ourselves be used in it…People so often talk of someone ‘getting over’ a death. How could you ever fully get over a deep loss? Life has been changed profoundly and irrevocably. You don’t get over sorrow; you work your way right to the centre of it.