Category: Essays

The many philosophies of minimalism.

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A Minimalists view on race and race relations

As with all (or most) concepts/ideas, this minimalists view on race is small and simple:

There is only one race. The human race.

(How’s that for minimal?)

For starters, “race” is not the same as “ethnicity.” Race is a concept of grouping people by their physical attributes, and separating them with name labels. The very concept of race only serves to segregate people. So the very idea of race lends itself to race-ism. Ethnicity refers to the place of origin and culture of people.

So by that logic ……. race doesn’t really exist, or I should say that it exists only because we believe it does. Take it from Bill Nye (Bill Nye on Race).

One thing I have learned through experience about people and their behaviors, is that as much as our thoughts influence our actions/words (and therefore others actions/words), so too do our actions/words influence our thoughts (and others thoughts). So by that logic, the way to eliminate this fictitious concept of “race” (and therefore racism) is to simply not talk about it. I think Morgan Freeman’s view on this is the most valid one I could find (Morgan Freeman on Race).

So lets all just stop talking about it. Not to each other, not to ourselves, and certainly NOT TO OUR CHILDREN. Eventually the very concept will be just a memory to some, and completely erased for others. Our children won’t even have a concept of it or a use for it.

So in the spirit of not talking about it, this is my first and last post on the subject.

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My Minimalist Home

It’s difficult to believe that I have been writing posts for two years now and this is the first time I am posting pictures of my home. Well the truth is, that we tend to me semi-private people, and were therefore kind of insecure about the idea of putting it all out there. It is also for this reason that I will not be posting any pictures of the bedrooms; there are some things that should still remain private. Besides ….. There is nothing to be gained from seeing a minimalists bedroom really. We also have a 5’X10′ deck through our dining room I won’t be posting any pictures of for security reasons.

So I’m going to take us through my small 825 square feet of sanctuary (our condo), room by room giving some general points of how I have laid everything out.

The entry way:

In the entry way of my home all we see is a coat rack and shoe rack to the left, mirrored closet to the right, and a stair case.

 

 

No pictures, no decor. Not that I have anything against pictures or decor (the rest of the rooms have it), but I prefer the entry way to be pretty plain.

At the top of the stairs is the main hub area (kind of like a hall way) that joins all the rooms together. There is really nothing to it, so a picture is not necessary.

 

The Living Room

Just a basic black, white, and grey look with color sprinkled in here and there. 44″ TV, Sony Stereo Receiver, Infinity speakers, a little play area for my child, and all the basic elements of a standard living room. the pictures on the walls plus the sofa set gives the room a NYC theme.

 

Plus an awesome Spider-man print. Besides the fact that Spider-man is awesome, he does go with the city theme.

 

So as we can see, I do have both prints up on the walls and decor on the surfaces, however both the wall and table top decor are minimal, with a great amount of space between them. I believe it makes the space look more elegant, and makes each piece of decor more noticeable; the pieces demand more focus. This is right in line with the philosophy “less is more.”

 

 

The Dining Room / The Office

Let me start by saying …. we don’t dine in here. We dine in the kitchen. This room is used mostly for computer time.

It also happens to be where I store my bicycles and cycling supplies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really big on Star Wars.

This side of the table is where I keep all my office effects, as well as my MTG supplies (I play Magic the Gathering). All these things fit neatly under the first leaf of the book shelf, unnoticeable from the other side of the room.

 

To me, an office is incomplete without a cork and white board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kitchen

Simple, small, and everything I need. Nothing I don’t.

 

 

Bananas, an absolute must for a cyclist.

 

 

 

 

And this is where we actually dine.  The table functions basically as a “kitchen nook” and folds out to a decent sized table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bathroom

Not much to say about it. Just very simple, basic, easy. We like to keep an oceanic/arctic theme going in here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple, but not plain. Perfectly functional, but easy to maintain. It’s my small slice of heaven.

 

 

 

 

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Mental clutter: Useless thoughts

There are many areas in ones life that one can use some minimizing, but the one that is often overlooked is our thoughts. It’s too bad to, because this it the one most closely linked to happiness. Well actually, there are two types of “mental clutter”: Useless knowledge (I often refer to as “empty calorie entertainment” for the mind), and useless thoughts and emotions. For this post I am discussing useless thoughts and emotions; I have discussed useless knowledge in previous posts.

Useless thoughts/emotions are ones that keep us from being happy, keep us from being motivated, keep us from seeing life how we want to see it. They also keep us from appreciating what we have. These useless thoughts and emotions are:

  • Judgment – Judgement of others to be specific. Judgement of others only becomes important if it directly effects our lives. In deciding how close we want to keep certain people, and how far to trust them; but it’s not very often that we have to make these judgments. The majority of judgments people make, is just fuel for gossip. I.E. useless and unproductive. Not only that, but more often times than not, we don’t have enough info to make a sound judgment. In fact, unless we live with someone and have known them for many years, we can’t make an informed judgment of them. It is far more productive for us to judge ourselves, as this can be motivation for growth. I once heard a phrase that applies here: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Eleanor Roosevelt. This applies to our thoughts just the same as our conversation.
  • Jealousy – Again ….. why are we thinking of people in unproductive ways? The same logic for judgment applies here. It is healthy to want what others may have, as we can use them as a guide to acquire these things. That is more of a mentor/protege relationship; a productive positive “looking up to” situation. Jealousy instead, carries resentment.
  • Anxiety over things we can’t control – These may be the most difficult set of thoughts and emotions to shake off. Especially when we have invested so much time into whatever is failing us. But the truth is, dwelling on it and losing sleep is just gonna add to the problem. We have to let that which we cannot control, go. Leave it in God’s hands.
  • Dwelling in the past – For starters, regret is a wasted emotion. What happened, happened, and we can not change that. Second, frequent contemplation about a time when “things were better” anchors us from moving ahead in our lives. We are different people than we were back then; at least if we are living life properly we are.
  • Hate (Not anger) – Hate is stress and baggage. Self destructive. Anger on the other hand can be motivation for change, for positive action. It’s just important that we manage our anger, direct it, control it, so that it doesn’t become hate.
  • Ego – All this does is put a wall between us and everyone around us. By doing this we won’t listen as attentively, we won’t be as open minded, and therefore ultimately we won’t grow as people. When we put ourselves on a pedestal we can’t hear what is going on down below, so we’ll miss out.

Lets make a conscience effort to purge ourselves of the above thoughts and emotions. They cause us to lose focus. I personally guarantee that we will be more happy, overnight.