Principles of Practice
To preach is one thing, to practice is another. Living the natural living lifestyle is extremely difficult because of the lack of natural living friendly products, enormous shifting cost to available alternatives and the inertia humans are riding with their current lifestyle.
Human lifestyle is dependent on factors that are both within the purview of an individual and outside it. Changes to such systems seem more idealistic than practical, therefore the practitioner should employ a pragmatic approach of adopting changes incrementally without paralysing life. This also allows the practitioner to validate the direction of change and revert if necessary. During the transition, old ways will still prevail and cheap criticisms of hypocrisy and double standard will surface. When humans are hooked on to a particular lifestyle, any campaign to change it will leave its first footprint on this very lifestyle.
One may not be able to switch to a 100% natural living, but the inability to attain perfection should not discourage its pursuit. It is through pursuit that one gets closer to perfection. Many say that you must either do something well or not do it at all. This is wrong in the general sense. Had it been so, one has to be remain always faulty and never improve since perfection is unattainable. If to err is human, and perfection isn't attainable, people naturally will be in between these extremes, of which, being close to perfection is a sensible outcome than being close to faultiness. Therefore, the inability to attain perfection should not discourage its pursuit.
Perfection must be judge on the results; not on the action. An action may look like an improvement over its predecessor, but its results may be regressive thus defeating the purpose of the action. There is no point in adopting such actions that seem to be an improvement but does not yield improved results.
Practising natural living gets difficult when living with others, especially in a joint family. This, however must not be a reason to shy away from the practice; one must practice as much as possible and inspire others to the lifestyle. Change must happen at an individual level. But changes can happen only when the need is understood; therefore natural living must not be enforced upon anyone, but chosen after understanding the need for it and the consequences of going otherwise.
Natural living is entirely a personal undertaking so much so that no practitioner must have to prove his practice to others nor be questioned about it. Nor must there be any natural living activism.
Natural living must not be politicised: it is not a lifestyle emerging out of any political ideology or religion; it emerges from science, logic and common sense.
Natural living must not be confused with or drawn parallel to other similar lifestyles or movements. The difference is in the details, in its scope and practicality.