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Philosophy

Arete: Minimalism and the Pursuit of Excellence

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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.… {Read more}

To be thingless is to possess the world

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A few weeks ago, I attended the John Pawson exhibition at the Design Museum here in London. For those unfamiliar with his work, he is the minimalist architect extraordinaire. I adore his aesthetic: white walls, open spaces, and minimum adornment, combined with natural materials like wood, marble, onyx, bronze, and granite. Simplicity, purity, grace, clarity – these are the words that come to mind when looking at his spaces.

At the exhibition was a long table, displaying the architect’s notes, articles, architectural renderings and models. This page of Pawson’s typewritten notes was the first thing I laid eyes on:

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“To be thingless is to possess the world.” The words struck me like a lightning bolt and burned themselves into my brain.… {Read more}

Minimalist Philosophy: Wildflower Goals

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When you spend time in the blogosphere, you hear a lot of talk about goals: personal goals, professional goals, finance goals, development goals, creative goals, short-term goals, long-term goals, etc. (Sometimes it can be exhausting just reading about them all!)

And if you’re a blogger, you’ll inevitably be asked to talk about your own goals. The question often comes up during interviews, and should be a snap to answer, right? Err, not for me.

You see, I’ve never been good at long-term planning – I don’t really like to outline (or even know) where I’m going to be one, five, or ten years from now.… {Read more}

Minimalist Lessons from a Tea Ceremony

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A few years ago, I participated in a Japanese tea ceremony. It’s a beautiful ritual, and—in my opinion—a wonderful analogy to minimalist living.

In a nutshell, chado (or Way of Tea) is the ceremonial preparation and serving of matcha, powdered green tea. Guests enter the teahouse after walking through a small, contemplative garden and symbolically purifying their hands and mouth with water from a stone basin. To enter the tearoom, they must bow their heads to fit through the small door—meaning all are equal in tea, regardless of social status or position.

After the guests are seated, the host cleanses each utensil, and prepares the tea, in a series of precise, choreographed movements.… {Read more}

Nothing to Steal

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My husband and I travel a lot, and people sometimes ask us if we worry about our apartment while we’re gone. Our answer: not particularly. The reason: we have nothing to steal.

Sure, we have stuff—clothing, kitchenware, books, and a few pieces of furniture. However, I can’t imagine anyone wanting any of it. And if they need it so badly that they have to steal it, they probably need it more than we do.

Anything we have of value—like our iPods, cell phones, cash, and wedding rings—is almost always with us.

The only thing I’d even come close to “worrying about” is my laptop.… {Read more}

Ancient Minimalist Wisdom

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I used to think that being fed up with “stuff” was a symptom of modern times. Globalization has made material goods inexpensive and widely available, and satisfying our consumer desires has become almost too easy.

However, philosophers have been railing against materialism for millenia — well before megamarts and “everyday low prices” came on the scene.

I thought I’d share some of this ancient minimalist wisdom with you today. First, because I think it’s inspirational, and second, because I have a thing for philosophers (in my book, brains are much sexier than brawn!).

I’ll be on the road for a few days, so hope these deep thoughts will tide you over until I return.… {Read more}

Minimalist Inspiration: The Story of Stuff

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In the spirit of Minsumerism, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite internet videos: The Story of Stuff, by writer and activist Annie Leonard. It’s a brilliant, 20-minute, stick-figure documentary about the life cycle of material goods.

The video explores the environmental and social issues of our current model of consumption, and calls on us to create a more sustainable economy.

While walking us through the five steps of extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal, Annie provides many thought-provoking statistics, such as:

80% of the planet’s original forests are gone. 40% of waterways in the United States have become undrinkable.… {Read more}

To Live Content with Small Means…This is My Symphony

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Today I’d like to share this quote from William Henry Channing:

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common–this is my symphony.”

I think it’s a beautiful, and refreshing, take on creative expression.

Advertisers encourage us to “express ourselves” through the things we buy.… {Read more}

Minimalist Philosophy: Wise Words from a Reader

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One of the reasons I love writing this blog are the comments I get from my readers. They’re a wonderful source of inspiration, and a great opportunity to learn how others incorporate minimalist principles into their lives.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to receive an incredibly insightful comment on one of my older posts. I know that many of you do not receive the RSS Comments feed (you can subscribe by clicking this link), and would likely never see it. Therefore, I’ve decided to highlight it in today’s post, as I want to make sure that nobody misses it.

I think this comment beautifully expresses the essence of minimalist living, and can serve as inspiration to us all.… {Read more}

Study: Experiences Bring More Happiness Than Stuff

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If you asked me to name my favorite “purchases,” I’d be much more likely to rattle off vacations I’ve taken, operas and ballets I’ve seen, and nice dinners I’ve had — rather than any things that I’ve bought.

Well, it seems I’m not the only one. A new study shows that experience-related purchases, rather than material ones, bring more happiness to the consumer:

“The results show that people’s satisfaction with their life-experience purchases – anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation – tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time.” Click here to read the entire article…

In short, the study explains that material purchases are easy to compare, and therefore more likely to lead to second-guessing and dissatisfaction.… {Read more}