Right now, minimalism may be be an underground, low-key movement, but make no mistake, minimalism is the future. We can’t continue down the path of consumerism we’re on now, it just isn’t sustainable. Minimalism has already begun its transition from cultish to mainstream.
I recently saw the George Clooney movie Up In The Air (which was great). Clooney’s character, Ryan Bingham, makes a living by firing people, as well as being a motivational speaker. Bingham’s motivational subject? Minimalism. Here’s his gig:
- Make the audience imagine an empty backpack.
- Imagine filling said backpack with all your possessions, start with the small things in your drawers and move all the way up to the large things: furniture, cars, etc.
- Feel the backpack begin to weigh you down as you fill it up.
- Now, put on that backpack. Imagine trying to move and get things done while having to carry that around all day.
- You can’t move with all that weight dragging you down, he says, and moving is living.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m a nerd, and I got all excited watching Clooney endorse minimalism in a big time movie. But wait, that’s not it!
I got home that night and turned on the TV. A commercial came on that went something like this:
Is all your junk weighing you down? Use our storage facilities to store your junk, clear your mind, and keep you from going insane!
I’m paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact words, but that was the general theme. The commercial was for Public Storage, which according to its website, is one of the largest landlords in the world based on tenants.
Witnessing both of these endorsements of minimalism in one night was pretty cool. What I really took away from it is this: minimalism is for real, and it’s just around the corner from becoming mainstream.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for scientific and technological advances, but half of our worldly problems could be fixed simply by consuming less. Consuming less would lessen our impact on global warming, stop support of unethical farming techniques, decrease energy consumption, etc.
One of my favorite minimalist bloggers just released an eBook on being minimalist. I won’t even try to explain it any better than him, so check out Everett Bogue’s The Art of Being Minimalist by clicking here (check out Everett’s blog on minimalism by clicking here).
Between Everett’s eBook and my previous article, What Michael Scott and The Office Can Teach Us About Minimalism, it’s easy to see just how simple (and necessary) it is for all of us to embrace minimalism.
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The “backpack” part seems extreme. I know, you’re not that extreme, but some minimalists seem to want to get radical and that the rest of us should follow suit. I was thinking that you were advocating the extreme stuff, but I must have misread.
I just have to comment that Al Gore is discredited and that there are scientists who say that not only has the polar ice cap NOT shrunk, it has actually increased in size. We will agree that this is not the place to debate GW and that it will be debated elsewhere for a while. My point was that you were making the simple into something more complex by bringing GW into it.
Perhaps it is a “thing” for me, I feel a need to point out to other authors where they can alienate their audiences. Like the time I told a guy that it’s not in his best interests to ridicule the religion of his readers when that was not the purpose of that particular Weblog. Then trying to keep my own topics within their boundaries. You WILL catch my failings, but I’m getting better
I’m not a “live out of a backpack” part, but I don’t think it’s extreme for people who are. It’s just a personal choice.
There are scientists on both sides of the global warming debate, and it’ll always be that way. So we all have our own opinions about it, and that’s fine! But you’re right, this isn’t the place to debate global warming, nor am I smart enough to do it intelligently.
But thanks for the comments. I need to be kept in check sometimes
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You’re willing to learn from others, I think that’s a part of wisdom. I’m still learning to put comments in the right place on this thing, and I’m much much much older than you. Oops, maybe not THAT much.
You pretty much lost me on two points. First, being extreme. Second, that “global warming” thing, which more and more people are realizing is nonsense and a political fringe element that only the die-hard ideologues continue to pursue. You may wish to minimalize your own writing by staying with true things that you say, how reducing the quantity of our possessions, and how releasing our emotional grip to worldly goods, both of those things are liberating. My suggestion is to focus on those and *maximize* your impact, leave out the silly fluff.
Thanks for the comment.
Personally, I hate politics. I can’t stand watching politicians bicker back and forth like five year olds. But I don’t think you can blame Al Gore, or any other politician or political party for that matter, for the Arctic ice cap shrinking 40%, can you? Global warming will be a hotly debated topic forever, but we’re all entitled to our own opinions
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And I’m not sure what you meant by your first point, being extreme?