When enough is plenty

January 14, 2022

Host: Frances MacEachen

Guests: Mary Jane Lamond and Anne B. Ryan

In this visit, Gaelic singer Mary Jane Lamond and Irish author-activist Anne B. Ryan shared stories of what enough suggests for our personal and social lives, and how we can act from a place of gu leòr for the well-being of ourselves and others.

 
 

What we heard

Guests

Mary Jane opened the session with the song An Gaidheal Am Measg nan Gall | The Gael Among the Lowlanders, which spoke to her about the theme of Gu leór | enough, plenty. Composed by Bard MacLean before he came to Nova Scotia, it’s about Angus MacNeil, who left Tiree and went down to the Lowlands of Scotland to seek out his fortune. Soon he realizes things are not what he imagined. "He had enough, but he went looking for more," said Mary Jane.

In her younger years, Mary Jane says she followed the reverse path of Angus MacNeil by moving from Ontario to Nova Scotia—not seeking a fortune but because she found a lovely old home with a garden and apple trees. "And one day I thought, I don’t really need anything else. . . and that was a very pivotal moment for me, which never changed. No matter what I had after that, or what I could have had, it was alway coloured  by that one moment.”

Anne Ryan's epiphany came at a younger age when her sister, seven years her junior, declined dessert, saying she had had enough. This moment set her on a path of thinking about limits, which she has developed into a philosophy and practice of enough as plenty. "I began to realize that at the heart of so many of the movements in the world that are trying to restore justice and bring about ecological sustainability we find the concept of limits, sufficiency, enough." She said it’s not just about being satisfied with what you have. In some cases things may need to contract, and in others there is a need for expansion. Many in the world do not have enough of the basics needed for life, others have more than enough. She asked, "What do we need to put limits on? And what we do not need to put limits on?"

Anne continued, "We shouldn’t be limiting our personal development, we shouldn’t be limiting our cultural creativity, but we really do need to live within the ecological capacity of the planet. Within that, we can be endlessly creative, within the limits of safety. I do think that modern English has lost a lot of the richness of enough. In modern English enough is concerned with mediocrity, penny pinching, and a not very joyful life."

And like diversity in nature, linguistic and cultural diversity are also important. "I think it is essential we don’t become monolingual, that we have a diversity in languages in the world, particularly languages connected to indigenous knowledge—the language of place, ecology and nature."

What struck you?

Themes and quotes from our small group conversations (read all the comments here)

  • How even now in conversation, reflecting on simple moments of enough still fills me with that same sense of fullness and joy.

  • I think it is critical that the concept of gu leór is kept front and center in your life, and that it is shared with others.  

  • Taking care of neighbors, family and friends has been integral to Gaelic culture. It's a beautiful thing.

  • Other cultures have this concept of enough as plenty. I had no idea it was in Gaelic. 

  • Sometimes the most profound statements are made in the most casual of circumstances —grow your own potatoes!

  • When we are living within ecological limits, we can endlessly express aesthetics and diversity, even exceeding them.

  • Gu leòr also keeps me more in the present moment, further from FOMO, and connected to gratitude more often.

  • If more of the world embraced the concept of gu leòr, then maybe all the warring and hurting would stop. People wouldn’t be spending their waking hours just trying to take from other people, other communities and nations.

  • I loved the idea of making gu leòr a shared expectation of how we should be conducting ourselves as folks, citizens and states.. The endless expansion we have planned for our economy and the earth that cradles it is not sustainable.

  • Media bombards us with constant messages that enough is never enough...we need to individually and collectively fight back

What are you inspired to do?

  • Plant potatoes.

  • Take only what I need and replace.

  • Share your potatoes!

  • Local enoughness!

  • Inspired to seek opportunities to share and trade resources in lieu of buying and collecting more material things.

  • Remember to think about gu leòr in terms of enough for everyone.   

  • I want to reflect more on what I have around me and see what excess I can share to not feel so burdened by having more than enough of some things.

  • Inspired to explore and learn more as how gu leòr manifests itself as a cultural tenet in Gaelic culture and its applications for contemporary life.

  • Inspired to work locally on this! Anyone else?

  • When I say "Thank You" to someone, I will be in a Zen zone, where that is the only thing I am thinking about. It won't be a toss-away comment.

Watch the recording

 
 

Other links

Susan SzpakowskiComment