To be Minimalist or not (Is Less Really More?)

Confucius said, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” The question is, can we help it?

Does a minimalist lifestyle appeal to me? How far am I prepared to take it? If you wanted a reply, my reply to you would be this.

As for me, it's a yes to "moderate living" but "minimalist" I'll have to say no to that. I think that minimalist existence is too simplistic a living as many affordables if not all luxuries have to be excluded, right?

Decluttering and the untangling of one's living after a lifetime of building wealth or asset creation up to a point is good but when one's living becomes too minimalist, then I think those actions (the decluttering and the untangling) can't be helpful. It might lead to "dismantling" (of whatever we have built) if you can see what I mean.

Of course there will be the joys and benefits of clutter-free living, but just how clutter-free can one get before a host of new problems (mostly consequential) make their appearance?

Joshua Becker in his e-book “Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life” has redefined minimalism as “the intentional promotion of the things you most value and the removal of anything that distracts you from it.” He says it's less about removing possessions just to remove possessions, and more about finding a lifestyle of simplicity that works for you and your family.

If those were the principles of minimalism, then I am all for it. But I think a minimalist lifestyle doesn't just mean simplifying your life. There's more to it. The underlying object is to live simply where possible with less and less of materialism. But the stark reality today is how to live well with less and less (of anything for that matter)?

I am sure you have heard the song with the catchy tune entitled "The Bare Necessities" sung by Phil Harris as Baloo and Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli in the Disney film "The Jungle Book" which extols the joys of clutter-free living but let's face it, I think in today's world, that's only good for the "birds, the bears and the bees".

Nonetheless the e-book entitled "The Art of being Minimalist" written by one Everett Bogue is worth exploring.

The author gave this testimony: "In July of 2009 I quit my job and moved from New York to Portland Oregon with everything I owned in a backpack. I had no plan and $3000 in the bank. Everyone told me I'd starve, but I didn't. Instead I adopted an minimalist lifestyle. I cooked all of my own food, I started working exclusively on the Internet. I learned to manage my time and empty my email inbox. It's about the freedom that comes from leaving everything and embarking on an experience that actually means something. I wrote The Art of Being Minimalist to help people declutter their lives, untangle their schedules, and find the freedom they've always dreamed they could have. My goal is to help people opt out of the perpetual motion machine of corporate consumer culture, begin creating, and find their own personal liberation."

The Western model is always about personal liberation and finding the freedom to do as one pleases. One way to achieve that is to lead a minimalist lifestyle where we are told we could free ourselves presumably from "the mess" of life.

Indeed where living is concerned, there is appeal in declutter, untangle, find freedom, all of which are ingredients for a minimalist existence.

A practitioner of minimalism (lifestyle) is one being or providing a bare minimum of what is necessary in living which in essence I think is an extremely conservative approach in lifestyle. The other extreme (opposite of minimalist) is a baroque, flamboyant, extravagant, or what one might say an excessive, (Gramarye) lifestyle?

I believe there is a moderate, happy existence in between where we don't have to live with everything on the one hand or nothing on the other. I advocate this stand but what is your call?

There is of course a Christian perspective to all this, one which I think that we (as Christians) should know better but that story is for another day.

For now, suffice just to remember these words from the Bible: “Godliness with contentment is great gain”. I’ll bet on that. How about you?