Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Facets of the Minimalist Movement



The minimalist movement is a voluntary simplicity response to the recession, and I think it is a relatively positive one. But like with all things, there is the good, and there is the bad. Despite being minimalist, there is a lot of diversity and overlap in this movement, so I toss out this diverse and overlapping taxonomy to describe these folks with some healthy criticism tossed in.

1. THE UNCLUTTERERS

The most basic form of the simplicity movement are folks who tidy up their lives. This is the gateway drug to the minimalist movement and can be seen on display at a website like Unclutterer. The problem with this approach is that it doesn't radically change your lifestyle. It just tidies it up a bit and doesn't eliminate the consumerism and what have you. The goal is not elimination but organizing. I like Leo Babauta's response that "minimalism is the end of organizing." When you get rid of the shit you don't need, there's nothing left to organize.

2. THE SIMPLE LIVERS

These folks are neo-hippies who read Thoreau, tend to be Luddites, eat vegetarian and organic foods, shop at thrift stores, grow gardens, and ride bicycles instead of driving cars. These people are more authentic and get a great deal of respect and admiration from me even if I don't buy into all of it.

3. THE MINIMALIST DESIGN FETISHISTS

Minimalist design fetishists are those who masturbate in front of an iMac, and there is no porn on the screen. They are into the minimalist aesthetic and like elegantly designed products and software and houses.



The problem with this approach is that it negates simplicity. That minimalist shit is expensive as hell and is about vanity as much as any other consumerist lifestyle out there. Where others go out and buy a bunch of shit, these people are obsessed with having perfect shit.

4. THE VAGABONDS AND SLACKERS

These are folks who tell you to go simple in order to quit your job and be a full time bum. What do you do for money? You blog about being a bum and get people to buy your shit on the internet. Everett Bogue at Far Beyond the Stars is the primary guru on this shit. He is like Tim Ferriss for the minimalist crowd. These folks minimize for the sake of travel and enjoying life. It is essentially the surf bum lifestyle supported by the internet.

5. THE TINY HOUSE PEOPLE

These are people who opt to live in 100 square foot or less. This is the opposite extreme of the McMansion set.



Most of these tiny houses end up on wheels to allow people to get around burdensome zoning regulations. I will just tell you like it is. These people are trailer park people with less space. They should just buy an Airstream camper and put it on a lot. I like their inventiveness and do-it-yourself spirit, but the reality is that they can afford to live in a bigger home even if it was one they built themselves.

OVERVIEW AND CRITICISM

Any minimalist will tell you that this way of life comes in different flavors. I agree. They must also agree that some of it is just plain dumb. Here is the way I think it should be done:

-Get rid of shit

This is the one point that all lifestyle minimalists can agree on. You want to eliminate the stuff you don't need from your life and stop living to acquire more shit. If you have to rent a unit from one of those storage places, you have too much shit. If it takes you an entire day to clean your house because you have to move all the shit around, you have too much shit. If you can't park your car in your garage because of all the clutter you have in there, you have too much shit. If you are making payments on anything but your home, you are an idiot, and you have too much shit. Get rid of as much as you can.

-Keep it simple

Whenever you design something, write something, or whatnot, keep it simple. Simple is not the same as perfect. All it means is eliminating the extraneous elements. Don't think Mies van der Rohe. Think Henry David Thoreau.



A simple life should be an authentic life not a sanitized life like in a museum of modern art. This is why I prefer the term "simplicity" to "minimalism." Simplicity retains the soul while minimalism in aesthetics cuts the soul out of it. It also allows me to buy used furniture and clothes from the thrift store.

-Work

When I think of simplicity, I think of the Amish or the Puritans and their work ethic. It seems so many minimalists want to be bums and equate working a job with some sort of dread and misery. They are only half right. Many people don't have real jobs but bullshit office jobs. No one wears a hard hat in Dilbert. This is because the misery is not on the shop floor but behind the desk. Guys like Tim Ferriss can extol working four hours per week because that is the sum total of the productive effort most of these people put out. Idleness is not the antidote. Idleness is the problem. If you can convince your boss to let you work four hours a week, he will be so impressed at the feat that he will eliminate you and give your four hours of work to someone else since what you did on a daily basis amounted to a bunch of nothing.

Simplicity isn't about being a slacker. It is about doing authentic work for a change.

-Live in a real house or apartment.

Big houses are dumb. Whether it is a mansion or a McMansion, you are just wasting resources on a status object. Conversely, you shouldn't trade the castle for a dollhouse. To me, the ultimate home is a simple cabin back in the woods sparsely furnished.

-Eschew big cars.

A big vehicle makes sense for some people. If you are a farmer, I understand the need for the big F-150. I will never understand the Cadillac Escalade. Outside of some agricultural or industrial necessity, there is no need to drive a gas guzzler. SUVs are just moronic. The Hummer? What the fuck is up with that?!

-Buy quality.

When it comes to products and clothing, I think durability and function should be the main considerations. I don't focus much on aesthetics. This is why I like Carhartt over The North Face. Stuff that lasts a long time and not dictated by fashion is cheaper because you can go a decade without replacing it. I still wear the T-shirts and work pants I first started with when my old man put my ass to work as a kid. Authenticity never goes out of style.

-Keep your hobbies and leisure in check.

I am all for having fun, but I don't think it should cost an arm and a leg in terms of money and time. Your leisure should improve you in some way. This means taking up running or learning a new skill or reading science and history. Leisure shouldn't be about expensive toys or spending weekends watching football games. The problem is that people engage in leisure activities that cost them more than enrich them. It's more about stuff than experiences or living vicariously through others while surfing the couch.

CONCLUSION

I don't know if I can consider myself a minimalist. That is a loaded term. What I can say is that I believe in simplicity and authenticity. This has been a change for me over the last couple of years. It represents a reevaluation of what constitutes the good life. I can have more stuff in my life, but I don't see where it makes my life any better. I see people living in McMansions, driving big cars, and making payments on toys they don't have time to play with, and I don't see the point. I just see people trying desperately to convince themselves that they are living the good life. But the good life is not making money but earning money doing real work. The good life is not struggling to make payments on a big house but being secure in a smaller home. The good life is not owning a $3000 mountain bike you never ride but going for a daily run in $80 shoes. The good life is not a ball game on a giant flat screen but a good book and time to read it. We already have rich and abundant lives. It is people who are trying to sell us something that have convinced us that something is missing.

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