The Simple Life: Goodbye to having it all.

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In their search for more enduring gratification in life, many people are seeking spirituality, if not a born-again commitment to organized religion. "Spirituality is in," says theologian Marty, "so much so that I get embarrassed by it." Says Milton Walsh, a Roman Catholic priest who is pastor of St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco: "People want some kind of direction and purpose, the basic 'Who am I? Where am I going?' "

The mood has influenced the career choices of college students and recent graduates. Many are spurning high-powered corporate careers to train for teaching, nursing and other community-service jobs. Joe Holland turned down generous offers after graduating from Harvard Law School a few years ago to move to Harlem to help build up the community. Now the owner of a restaurant and a travel agency, Holland has also founded a shelter for the homeless. "I know that coming to Harlem shut the door to Wall Street," says he. "But I can look at a healthy man, a full-time travel agent, who came through my homeless program two years ago strung out on crack. I have absolutely no regrets."

By some analyses, the 1990s will be an anxious era of dues paying for the excesses of the '80s. That may be true in a public sense, but in private lives, how much fun was the past decade? For most Americans it was a time of struggling to keep up with everyone who seemed to be making it big. Now that the bubble of financial speculation has burst, people should -- and do -- feel entitled to accept more modest aspirations. The real estate market was a prime example of a 1980s torture track. Americans started thinking of housing as a vehicle for getting rich, rather than as just shelter, and it became an obsession. Author Ann Beattie, a chronicler of the baby boom, fled Manhattan in the mid-1980s for Charlottesville, Va., declaring, "I could not spend the rest of my life listening to people talk about real estate. It's a constant, boring, hysterical subject."

Now that the conversation has changed to more humane topics, how will it affect the economy? During the past month, consumer confidence has shaken off the worst of the recession blues, according to studies by the University of Michigan and the Conference Board. Over the long haul, prudent consumers who feel optimistic about the future could help build a stronger foundation for the economy. For one thing, the U.S. personal-savings rate, which dropped from 9% in the mid-1970s to a low of 2.3% in late 1987, is now about 4% and climbing. That will provide a larger pool of investment capital and could help the U.S. regain its competitive footing. The poor may also eventually benefit if the notion of a kinder, gentler America is translated into concrete action.

But the final question is this: Is the simple life just a passing fancy, a stylish flashback of the 1960s? Not so, say people who have studied both eras. Contends Berkeley sociologist Robert Bellah: "It's no longer messianic, the way it was in the '60s, but relatively pragmatic. That may give the present mood a greater staying power." That's good, because the American generation now reaching middle age has a lot of promises to keep -- not to mention mortgages to carry, tuition to pay and lawns to mow. No wonder they want to keep it simple.