Back in college, I had a thing for Greek philosophers. While my peers were obtaining more practical knowledge in business, engineering, and the like, I was reading Plato and Aristotle and pondering the meaning of life.
My fling with these ancient thinkers was pushed to the backburner when I graduated, however; after all, I had more pressing concerns – like paying the rent and making a living.
Occasionally, though, something sparks that flame anew; most recently, a reader named Anna. In her email, she reminded me of the concept of areté, and how it relates to minimalism.
Areté, in the most general sense, means excellence – particularly with regards to fulfilling a purpose or function.
The areté of a knife is to cut well. The areté of an ear is to hear well. The areté of a lamp is to illuminate well.
So what does this have to do with minimalism?
When we’re trying to declutter, areté is a call to quality over quantity. Choose one pen that writes superbly over a drawerful of mediocre ones. Choose one gadget that functions flawlessly, rather than a slew of sub-par ones. Choose a small wardrobe of excellent clothes instead of a closetful of inferior ones.
Considering areté makes us mindful of every object we own – and encourages us to question whether it’s performing its function to the best of its ability.
The vase that elegantly showcases your garden’s flowers? That’s living up to its areté. The broken printer in the corner of your office? Not so much.
A minimalist household, then, is one in which the areté of every item shines forth.
But there’s more to it than that – there’s our own areté to consider. And here’s where minimalism really lives up to the hype. By stripping away all the clutter, the excess, and the non-essentials in our lives, we can uncover our own particular excellence. It’s a process of peeling away the layers, to see what’s at our core.
When I moved overseas, I had the rare opportunity to do this in one fell swoop. I arrived in the UK stripped of my possessions, my home, my family, my friends, my career. And as I sat in an empty room with little more than a laptop, I was forced to ponder what was left. Who was I after all the stuff, all the expectations, all the trappings of the life I knew were taken away?
And that’s when I found my areté: to write well, and do some good in the process.
My areté won’t be the same as your areté, and your areté won’t be the same as your neighbor’s. Whether it’s excelling in business, as a parent, as a poet or a humanitarian, your areté as an individual is unique.
Becoming minimalists not only helps us discover our areté, it helps us achieve it. For areté doesn’t come without hard work and discipline: according to Hesiod, “between us and Goodness [his term for areté] the gods have placed the sweat of our brows: long and steep is the path that leads to her…”
Minimalism eliminates all those things that distract us from our areté – like clutter, debt, and concern about keeping up with the Joneses. Each unnecessary thing we purge (or choose not to buy) is one less thing to fuss over, clean, repair, maintain, and pay for. Each unfulfilling task we toss from our schedules is one less hassle in the course of our day.
In paring down to the essentials, a myriad of worries fall to the wayside. And what are we left with? More space, more minutes, more attention for what’s important.
We regain the time, clarity, and energy to discover our true purpose in life, and fulfill our highest potential. In short – the chance to realize our areté.
Have you found your areté? Please share with us in the Comments!
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You comments have really triggered something in me. Lately I have been pondering who I am and what I do. Now that I have got my life and possessions stripped back I am here looking at a big blank space that is my life. My answer to what is my arête? I honestly don’t know.
But I am treating with the principles of minimalism and looking at my life like an empty bookcase, “What is/are the prefect thing(s) to go on there, that will enhance and fulfill me.”
I’ll let you know when I have an answer.
You’ve put your finger on it… It’s all about streamlining to only what is important or needed. I always use “quality” as my selection criteria when cutting back, but never realized it!
I’m with Bonglecat on this one; I’m figuring this out. After an out-of-state move last year (and terrible homesickness), jobs in my field are scarce (and my profession as a librarian seems to be on the decline). I need to find something else to do. Right now I’m volunteering and enjoying that very much, writing my blog (www.chocolateonion.blogspot.com), and working on streamlining my life to essentials. It’s a process.
Over the years, I have believed my arête to be several different things, but last year when I first decided to live a more minimalist lifestyle, I realized that there was a similar impetus that drove me to all the different things: making people happy. Right now, I feel that my purpose, or goodness, is to inspire people through my writing. I like the idea of inspiring people to create excellence in all areas of their lives.
And I’m glad to hear you mention minimalism being about excellence in material things, so that we need less of those particular things and not just about trying to buy/live as cheaply as possible.
Thanks for reminding me why I chose to become a minimalist in the first place.
It wasn’t to read people’s blogs or to travel – although those are nice side effects – it was so that I can start doing things without being stressed before I even begin. So I can get places on time. So I’ll be one of those people I always admired, who actually did things while I was going “oh no I’m going to miss my bus because I can’t find my stuff blah blah.”
I’m still a far cry from some superhuman people with time management skills, but I’ve gotten better. I also keep forgetting to watch TV.
I don’t know if I have an arete. But I do know I like the free time minimalism has helped me to achieve.
My life has become simple. I now get to focus on simple things in life, such as being happy and taking care of my body.
Sometimes I feel bad in that I’m not juggling so many things at once in my life. That I don’t have lots of responsibility. But that’s ok with me.
Mike thank you for addressing that I went into a depressed state when I started to declutter and slow my life down. I felt as if I was not doing anything I was so programmed to be on the go you can almost compare it to coming off a high! You cannot see yourself in running water.
I have been struggling with this issue my entire life. As a true polymath and a true polyglot (I mean this in all academic humility and without ego), it is extremely difficult for me to pick just one arête. I must admit, since the globalization of modern society, many people tend to have more than one arête.
Ashley: I also struggled with that. I found the books “The Renaissance Soul” and “Refuse to Choose” really helpful and validating. The authors didn’t phrase it in these terms, but those books helped me see that your arête doesn’t have to be a particular activity/career, but can be a more abstract quality/talent.
For example, my arête is patterns. Specifically, seeing both the big picture and the little details, understanding how they fit together, and figuring out what their implications are. Everything I have ever been good at has been an application of that talent, from math to languages to dance to relationships…
For somebody else, a non-activity-specific arête might be love of learning, being excited by change, an affinity for finicky details, etc.
Once I understood that, I was able to separate my identity from my activities. That talent for pattern recognition is an integral part of who I am; how I choose to apply it at any given time is not. That frees me to make that choice over and over again as my circumstances and I both change.
I found my family, career and health are my tope 3 aretes in my life. : ) (Such a pretty word too!!!) I took what we owned and scrutinized each item and placed it into one of those 3 catergories. I also set up our home to function for our lifestyle, not some catalog that everyone else would like. It has been incredible, as far as the way my (our) life has become so enriched and these areas we concentrate on have had a positive growth spurt. : )
Always when I think about minimalizm in my life, I just turn on “Up in the air” movie.
The great monologue by Clooney is in my opinion essential of minimalizm at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjbhUCDDLSE
However, as minimalist I’d always say: omnia mea mecum porto.
So would someone’s arete be compared to their “calling”? I don’t know if I’ve found my “calling” yet. I love my occupation in the design field, and I love being a mother to my wonderful son. But not sure this is my arete.
Francine, let me tell you that your blog has come at the time of my life when I needed it most. As it is said: “When the student is ready, Masteer appears”. A few weeks ago I decided to change my colorful and disordered world by one of simplicity. And, wonderfully, you come across with this blog and this post … This Jungian synchronicity is not -can not be- casual. Thanks for your input.
You know that the root of arête is the same as Aristeia, that quality of every man of virtue, the “aristoi”. The hallmark of this quality – arête, virtue in its broadest conception. Those men of all ages who resisted them overcoming their circumstances, who refused to fall into the mediocrity that condemned their society, these illustrious men showed signs of arête. In fact, Aristocracy = aristoi government, but, historically, the Aristocracy has degenerated so little resembles that illustrious origin.
Now I would like, if I may, to introduce a concept that fits wonderfully in this plan of life that you have chosen. And you, as a student and practitioner of the Japanese language, should know:
Shibumi: In Japan, is a term used in architecture, interior design, even denotes a flavor. But like the concept of minimalism, can be taken to the lifestyle. Shibumi is effortless perfection. Refinement at the highest level with the appearance of simplicity. Beauty without pretense. Shibumi has two qualities or characteristics: Wabi, beauty judged as the result of the simple life and Sabi, a quality of image used in poetry that expresses a hint of nostalgia for their natural appearance of neglect, but under this facade lies an exquisite refinement.
Please keep on the web and know you have a friend here in Venezuela,
Sincerely,
Edwin Quiroga
ps. sorry my imperfect syntax.
Very timely, thanks!
I’ve been in the searching phase for most of my adult life. I even moved halfway around the world in search of my Arete, only to have my plans go down in flames forcing my return to the states. Now i’m beginning the search anew, if I hadn’t downsized and purged before starting this grand adventure I can’t imagine the state I’d be in right now! As it stands now I’m working on rebuilding my decimated savings and looking around for a new path…
I ended up at a Pampered Chef party as a favor to a friend. I have kitchen Arete. A beautiful cutting board and 3 perfect knives. It was an aha moment where I realized I don’t need any gadgets to do what my knives could already do. I ended up buying some seasonings, but I will use those!
Love your blog and post. Another minimalist author you might like is Dominique Loreau. She teaches French Literature and lives in Japan. She wrote L’art de la simplicité and writes about minimalism in Japan.
On another topic: I’m looking for a minimalist blog that I accidentally deleted from my favorites. The name was recently changed from My Simple Home to My White Home. The woman’s name is Mrs. G. and she posts a lot of pictures of her white condo in Canada. She used to be on something like blogspot and I think she wrote a comment on one of your posts a while back. Do you or anybody else know who she is and what her website is?
Thanks a bunch,
Pascale
Pascale . . . I think that this is what you’re looking for:
http://www.mywhitehome.com/
I believe that some become enamored with ridding themselves of their possessions for the sake of doing it. And then when it is done, the noise in their life is not so loud, and things and responsibilites are not clamoring for their attention, they can really think. And hear themselves think. They discover they may not like who they are, they have not lived up to their potential, they have not been doing what they were called to do.
Some may know their aretes before becoming minimalist, others may not be able to hear it until the noise is quieted.
Bernice
Just how lucky are you?
Kris, this is exactly what I’m looking for. Thank you so much.
Pascale
Very interesting! I have never heard of arete before… I love the idea that we can more easily find our purpose by not clogging up our lives with unnecessary things! Thanks!
I like the question, Francine! Thanks for sharing this. To answer your question ~ I like to think of my arete as the meaning of my name; Caroline translates to, “song of joy.” Living into my arete = living into my true self.
I thought our name meant “noble spirited.” But you did say “translates to” – is it related to “caroling” then?
I’m searching for it! I’ve already discovered one “practical” option that was not it (I studied “practical” and “non-practical” things in college, but “practical” is not worth much if you don’t enjoy it). I’m hoping that pursuing things that make me happy will lead to it. “Follow your bliss,” right?
What a brilliant post! What is my arete? Who am I, stripped of my possessions, my career, sitting in an empty room, starting over from scratch? I’ve never thought of my life this way before! But . . . stripped to the essentials, I think my arete is learning and then teaching.
Thanks for the inspiration, Francine.
“..there’s our own arête to consider. And here’s where minimalism really lives up to the hype. By stripping away all the clutter, the excess, and the non-essentials in our lives, we can uncover our own particular excellence. It’s a process of peeling away the layers, to see what’s at our core…”
These lines are so true and beautiful Francine. Moving halfway through Europe, living away from my family and childhood friends, havig children and turning into a more conscious minimalist has helped finding my own arête. Interestigy, what I found was something that, in the back of my mind, I always knew, but never saw concretely from all the clutter in my mind.
And yes, Francine, I think you did find your arête “to write well, and do some good in the process.” Well done! Excellent post!
Sorry to mention this, but I’m only slightly confused.
I think you mean “arete” (without the e-circumflex) when talking about the Greek philosophical term. With the circumflex, “arête” is a geological formation created by glaciation.
I guess that’s what I get for having the curse of a proofreader’s eye…
Ahh – darn that Word spellchecker! Thanks for the great catch – corrections have been made. :)
pretty cool though because for some people finding their ultimate purpose could take as long as a glacial formation!
@ Doug K., Good call! Since I studied both ancient Greek and Geology, I feel qualified to comment on this. The Greek word actually has an accent on the end (areté), which probably led to the confusion. But of course the point is the concept of excellence, which is as good a goal as any. Has anyone read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, where it gets taken a little too far?
I love this post. I’m a college instructor and strive always to achieve arete in my teaching. I enjoy paring down my lectures to find the simple core though the content is complex. I call it “teaching clean”. The best part is that my students recognize what I’m doing and respond favorably to the lack of cognitive clutter.
What a beautiful post.
Excellent post.
Cool! I’ve been getting rid of my stuff because it distracts me from what I really want to do (study library science abroad / travel). I didn’t know there was a word to sum it up.
This post really spoke to me. Thank you!
The more I strip down my life to the essentials the more I discover who I truly am, and what my true needs and desires are. Minimalism for me has meant so much more than simply having a clutter free home, and this post summed it up so well.
Dear Ms. Minimalist,
A good friend from elementary school just sent to me your column asking me to comment to him on it, saying, “I would appreciate your comments as I believe you are a living example of this concept…” I believe I am and have lived this example, and I feel there is yet another, essential element to erete and the art of de-cluttering I can offer.
I have lived in rural Hawaii for almost 10 years out of my VW camper van, caretaking various pieces of land and last six years on a piece of property that I purchased just half a mile from the ocean, where I have poured most of my savings and energy into growing food and beautifying this piece of paradise. I am also a writer and after finishing graduate school with a degree in Chinese medicine 10 years ago, I wanted time to write (a lot) and to enjoy quiet and natural beauty without more overhead and debt. So, I moved to a warm, natural place to live ultra-simply. I have written my heart out–poetry integrated with holistic healing–and now am ready for the next step, which is the thrust of my writing to you.
You speak of erete, which I understand as our giftedness, our innate talent and, ostensibly, (one of) our purpose(s) for being alive. Beautiful. In my experience erete is birthed by both outer and “inner work.” From the little I have read, you cover the outer work wonderfully, and “well-writtenly!”
So, what is the practical, grounded, inner work that we can do bolster our erete? Just as we clear up the clutter and nonessentials of our outer lives that drain or vitality and focus and receptivity, so too we can do the same with our inner worlds.
We can say no to needless appointments, plans that we don’t really enjoy or work that does not fulfill us or our community. We can buy less stuff and collect fewer needless items, but does this truly ready us to live full lives, fully infused with erete? How do we equally say no to the inner places we are stuck, where we are inhibited from our fullness and ability to shine? Ironically we must begin by saying “yes” to them in order to release them and to recover our own vitality tied up in the knots they create in our heart. These are the places of our woundings, our unfinished business from childhood and later, that have shaped and limited the capacities of our emotional lives, our relationships, and ultimately our spirituality. This is our erete inhibited and without access to a full heart with which and through which it can express itself completely, freely and most brilliantly.
If you have found your erete as a writer or a gardener or a doctor, doing the inner clearing work to match your outer de-cluttering will ignite your soul even further so that the “empty space” of your outer life now becomes infused with color and passion from having your internal channels of creativity and passion cleared and opened. As an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, I have seen that these mind-body healing modalities further ready and integrate one to begin the inner work of emotional de-cluttering, which is step-by-step, tough work. But the result is euphoria and the blossoming of the real you firing on ALL cylinders…able and ready to make sustainable, wholehearted, holistically-informed beauty of your life from nothing at all. This is my new direction in writing, for which I have already begun a book on the subject.
Thank you for your column and this opportunity to consider from yet another angle the importance of both the outer and the deep inner work needed to live a full life, to be able to offer our greatest contributions—as our erete—to a world so desperately in need of the biggest, sustainable, tender, and meaningful love we can shine forth.
In appreciation, Jack
PS—and let us not forget that it might be some people’s erete to collect and to clutter. In their clearest moments, they may realize this to be their calling. I am thinking of my mother, in particular, whom I love as she is for her gift of collecting, cluttering, and then generously giving. Amen.
Jack
I’ve been thinking about this post since the 17th. It is a truly powerful post.
I am a mother. That comes first. My oldest will almost certainly never be independent.
Secondly, I am a healer. I’m learning to help other find healing in their life. Both emotional and physical.
Thank you for the motivation to truly look at myself and find my areas of arete.
something slightly different: how about a series about minimalists/minimalism in literature?
i read some moomin-books lately and mumrik/snufkin really could be called minimalist :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snufkin
I’ve read all your posts, and this one’s my favorite. Lovely!
Very thoughtful post…it definitely gives me something to think about. I’m glad I found your blog!
Like so many others here, I’ve been paring down my possessions for years(actually both me and my husband). Little by little I’ve discovered new – and also some forgotten – things about myself, but the biggest challenge has been to find out what is my true passion and purpose in life. And even though the total amount of stuff in our home has a big effect on me, I’ve had a problem with letting go of books. I recently found out why, though it would be too complicated to explain here. So, I let a very large pile of books go and cannot describe the feeling of freedom!(The reading part is always fun, but apparently when books just sit there on my shelves, they turn into rows of stagnant energy.) Almost instantly after this I started to see my path more clearly. Life is truly amazing! And thus a long-time reader now felt a need to comment on yet another great post :) Thank you for a lovely and soulful blog, Francine!
Still reading your older posts. I am trying to approach simplicity a few items at a time. I have very few clothes and have given away a lot of books and craft items. I have some china I will give to a group as a fund-raiser. I have to remember that horizontal surfaces are slanted so I don’t have piles of things on tables.
Still giving away a pile of books/ magazines to the library each week and big bags to Goodwill each week. We haven’t bought anything new in a very long time except the toys for Toys for Tots. The grandkids got some small toys and secondhand books from the library as did visiting great nieces and nephews, who also got small boxes of crayons to use on the plane home. I think a new box of crayons is a great gift.
I keep commenting on 5 year old posts, but well… I recently found this blog and decided to read the whole thing.
Incredible post!
And to answer the question… I know my areté has to do with caring for and serving this beautiful Earth. I’m in scientific research in ecology, into everything green (that’s how I found minimalism) and interested in the link between Christianity and the environment.
Still searching to refine and narrow down more from there :)
I like to declutter so much that I offer my services as a raffle prize. I think that is what I do best.