The Paradox of Minimalism

Minimalism is all the rage just now - but what is it and why does it matter? As a trend, it matters not in the slightest.  Trends never do.  But there's something about minimalism that distinguishes it from mere fashion, from the narcissistic lifestyle fetishism we "share" in each others' faces endlessly in the age of instagram.  At least, I think there is.  Perhaps I'm wrong.

The current kings of the minimalist world are Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus - "The Minimalists" - a highly successful website and (for want of a more accurate term) brand, incorporating films, books, various "services", and currently, a speaking tour.  All of which are available for purchase at theminimalists.com, where they define "minimalism" as follows:

"Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom". 

Sounds great, and absolutely nothing like a cult.  No, I'm sorry.  That's unfair.  This is a perfectly good definition.  It's not the only possible one, but it's a key point: minimalism is about freedom. Consumer capitalism is a culture of anxiety, a culture of more, and a culture of me.  Almost all spiritual traditions teach that an insular, egocentric individualism is corrupting, both to the self and to the world that self inhabits.  To always take from and never give to the world inevitably leads to anxiety, because the ego never can be satisfied.  It is in its nature to want.  The fantasy is never enough, and the reality is always too much.  Consumerism feeds the ego-beast on the lie that the next thing will be it: the thing that makes you complete, the best, the leader of the pack.  Until the next thing comes along: next year's upgrade, next season's "must have".  And so on, year after year after year after year...and then you die.  And whoever dies with the most toys, wins.  Everybody knows this.

One fascinating thing about minimalism is its emergence from this culture as something inherently critical of it, and perhaps even entirely opposed to it.  This is something that happens periodically, sometimes in more radical forms than others.  Think dadaism, communism, situationism, hippies, punk.  Eventually, however, all such movements, however initially subversive, soften, and find their niche within the wider cultural context.  So malleable is postmodern culture that it can accommodate apparently anything, even those things that initially threaten it.  Today we have reached a point at which it seems nothing can really threaten the status quo at all, so steeped is everything we experience in uncountable levels of irony.  In 1976, before high street record shops had refused to sell it, and national TV and radio stations had refused to play it, workers at vinyl pressing factories refused even to handle the copies of "God Save the Queen" they were being asked to manufacture and distribute.  Of course, it went straight in at number one anyway (sort of).  A fascist regime, indeed.  Punk was, for a very very short time, truly dangerous, revolutionary.  It is hard to conceive of "the system" being so unaccommodating to such a potentially lucrative pop culture trend today.

The next paragraph of theminimalists.com's definition reads:

"That doesn’t mean there’s anything inherently wrong with owning material possessions. Today’s problem seems to be the meaning we assign to our stuff: we tend to give too much meaning to our things, often forsaking our health, our relationships, our passions, our personal growth, and our desire to contribute beyond ourselves. Want to own a car or a house? Great, have at it! Want to raise a family and have a career? If these things are important to you, then that’s wonderful. Minimalism simply allows you to make these decisions more consciously, more deliberately".

Herein lies a paradox.  In my twitter feed a few days ago, where I follow various self-promoting minimalists, this happened:

It's a paradox I quite enjoy living, in any case.  You take it seriously by not taking it seriously.  Is minimalism about getting rid of stuff, or acquiring the right kind of stuff?  Is it somehow about both?  Is it, perhaps, neither?  Is it nothing at all?  Is it, like the ever more ubiquitous phenomenon of "motivational quotes", not quite nothing, but just something enough to be annoying?

On reddit last week, one poster ranted:

I just watched that piece of shit documentary on netflix. Oh my god those insufferable twats had me questioning if they were genuinely trying to pass their bullshit or if they were actually trolling people who live simply. "Im a hugger," made me want to physically harm my laptop. These twats are all former high earners who are basically living pseudo-retired by their early thirties and telling us to give them a hug and live free while they wear ray bans and designer clothes and hock their book on any media outlet that will entertain their narcissism. I hope that documentary purely exposes these bullshit artists.

The rant was well received.  It asks the right questions. If this is all just some kind of viral marketing campaign (and what, these days, isn't?) then we're all going to end up looking like right idiots.  (Not that we don't anyway, but you know, even more so).  If we're giving our time and attention and money to narcissists who are saying absolutely nothing then, well, maybe we deserve it.

Your priorities are what you do each day, the small tasks that move forward the second and minute hands on the clock.

— The Minimalists (@TheMinimalists) July 24, 2017

Yeah thanks.  I know.

It doesn’t matter what organized religion you belong to, or what god you worship: they all want you to live a simple life.

— The Minimalists (@TheMinimalists) July 23, 2017

Really?  I think most organized religions disagree.

The simplifying process, like life, is ever-changing. Minimalism is fluid.

— The Minimalists (@TheMinimalists) July 22, 2017

OK...What?

There is no doubt that getting rid of stuff is good and necessary and right.  We have reached peak stuff.  More and more of us are waking up to this.  We need to slow down, unplug, clear our heads, free our minds.  Stop consuming, lest we be consumed.

Perhaps this is impossible.  Perhaps there is an inherent need to consume: I'm not talking only literally, where of course that is true, but in this vaguer sense.  The religious might call it a god-shaped hole, and are ready to explain of course that their god is just the right size and shape to fill it.  But this is implausible, and we all know it. Religions, all of them, offer something just too...specific.  Today we talk about "spirituality" more comfortably than we do about "religion", since this is something we are supposed to have some intuitive grasp of, and something that can be shaped according to our own needs in ways that a religion cannot: but this is no more plausible, and no more satisfying - as evidenced by the innumerable fad quasi-religions spiritual fads for sale (and they almost always are for sale, not merely on offer).  Perhaps there is nothing that can satisfy us: not a god, and not the absence of one either.  If you're really looking for something, you must accept the possibility that that thing isn't actually there.

What does minimalism offer?  Well, if what it offers is for sale, then don't buy it.  You don't need to buy things that show you how to stop buying things.  You don't need another thing to show you how to get rid of all your other things.  It will be a con: consumerism's dying breath, perhaps.  If it offers a perspective, encouragement, or even inspiration, then give it space to do so.  Good ideas have a life of their own, and will come with you.  Bad ideas stay exactly where they are.  But it's just too soon to tell which one of these minimalism is.

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