Minimalism for kettles or freedom from circumstances

"If you can't change the situation,
Change your attitude towards her.
(Stanislav Jerzy Lec).

Why is it that people rarely feel happy? Most people believe that they lack something specific to be fully happy – health, money, love, or all of it at the same time. And the measure of this “lacking” is strikingly different in individual cases, fully justifying the saying: “Who has liquid soup, who has small beads.” What is the main dilemma of happiness and unhappiness?

To understand, we ask ourselves a simple question: what does a person really need?

A certain amount of protein, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins - regardless of the range of meals eaten, protecting your body from cold and precipitation - regardless of the color and style of clothing, two square meters of bed for the night - regardless of the size of the dwelling surrounding this night, get from point A to point B - regardless of the size and gluttony of the vehicle under the seat.

And all these restaurants, Versace, mansions and huge jeeps - only the external surroundings, on which the physiology of the human body does not depend. This is purely material life. What about the “moral” part of it? Oh, well, man is a schooling animal, and his status is important, that is, the position in the hierarchy of the same bipeds. Why is he, status? Apparently, in order to use it to dine in expensive restaurants, have Versaces, palaces and jeeps. Or is it all about status? This is where a snake bites its tail.

All this “cockroach running” for so-called success is the product of one of the fundamental needs of human nature – to take a higher place in the flock of their kind.

But there is another side to the problem.

In addition to gregarious instincts, a person is governed by one of the laws of psychophysiology, again - designed to survive and dominate as a species. It can be summarized as follows: happiness is short-lived, unhappiness is infinite. In other words, nature does not allow a person who has satisfied his next need to enjoy it for too long - such a prolonged "relaxation" is life-threatening, since you can lose your vigilance and be eaten by a tiger, or get a club on the head from a less fortunate relative.

But a person cannot get used to an unsatisfied need - over time it becomes only sharper. What does this mean for the majority of the population? But here’s what: people for the most part are simply not able to stop in their endless “rise” and self-affirmation, because they too quickly cease to enjoy their next, albeit doubtful “achievement”, and like a drug addict during the “breakdown” is in feverish search for a dose – people are also always striving for new “tops” of success and well-being.

But what could be the final outcome of all these races? Alas, the possible options do not shine with variety. If for a long time an individual fails to achieve the planned set of signs of success and well-being, or he suddenly loses them at some whim of fate, the likelihood of depression, a sense of loss of meaning in life is high.

If everything is basically successful, a person becomes hostage to his own achievements, as the goal is inevitably replaced by a process, and life turns into an endless marathon race for money, titles and epaulettes. And if suddenly there is a forced stop at some stage in the process of these endless victories and achievements, it is perceived as the collapse of all life plans. How can we break this vicious cycle in which the satisfaction of one need inevitably creates a new one?

The easiest and most effective way is to eliminate the factors that provoke the emergence of the needs themselves. Of course, human nature cannot be deceived – physiological needs cannot be eliminated. But they can be reduced to the level that is natural and necessary. This approach to life is called minimalism.

The first minimalist known to us was probably Diogenes, who is considered a follower of the philosophical school of the Cynics (derived from the word “dog”, later the term in everyday life was modified into “cynics”, in which a simplified sense is used now). At the center of Kinical philosophy is man with his natural concerns. The Cynic seeks a norm in the nature of man as a species and as an individual, and does not wait for divine directions to decide his own life. At the same time, the individualistic protest of the Cynics does not degenerate into egoism, ready to satisfy the ego of one at the expense of others. The individualism of the Cynics leads to the principle of inner freedom, which is obtained by the struggle with oneself, but not with society. Once, as an old man, Diogenes saw a boy drinking water from a handful, and threw his cup out of the bag, saying: “The boy has surpassed me in the simplicity of life.” He threw away the bowl when he saw another boy who, having broken his bowl, was eating lentil soup from a piece of eaten bread. It must be said that up to the beginning of the last century, most of the inhabitants of the Earth were “minimalists involuntarily”, since labor productivity in that era hardly provided the average person with the minimum necessary means for survival. But later mankind, inspired by the successes of the scientific and technological revolution, felt a taste for material abundance, at the same time being morally unprepared for it.

At present, the average person in Europe or the United States is able to provide for himself with all the necessities of life, working only a few hours a day, but the opposite of this possibility is the artificially imposed philosophy of consumption.

In the mass consciousness of Europeans and Americans, in just two or three generations, a firm belief was introduced that material well-being is synonymous with happiness, that is, as one increases one’s ability to consume, one automatically becomes happier. As a result, this led to the destruction of wildlife, environmental degradation and even climate change in the pursuit of raw materials, without which it is impossible to produce more cyclopean mansions, huge jeeps and hundreds of costumes for representatives of the “golden billion”.

This is especially evident in the United States – wide roads, large houses and cars, dazzling outfits, as symbols of the “Amerian dream”. Interestingly, an anti-example is far from backward economically Japan, in which a small (even by our standards) apartment can be considered apartments, and simplicity and modesty in everyday life is a stable sign of a national mentality.

So let’s try to understand – what do we usually lack, as they say, for complete happiness?



1. Money.
Yes, without money, you can even die, because no one will feed and drink you for free. But to satisfy the minimum physiological needs (food, clothing, roof over your head) modern civilized person earns without much effort. But beyond that, options are already possible. For example, food can be in a restaurant, clothing can take up two to three cabinets, and a roof over your head can measure hundreds of square meters. Accordingly, the acquisition of all this can be associated with great expenditure of energy, health and nerves, and is often dangerous to personal freedom, and sometimes to life. In turn, a great desire to possess all these benefits, combined with the inability to receive them (as an option - the possibility of losing what has already been received), is fraught with serious stress. The question is, why do you need all this? 2. Health and beauty
Of course, all people are different – including in terms of natural (ie, genetically determined) health and physical attractiveness. But at the same time, all people are very different in the perseverance with which they try to change this natural reality in one direction or another. Most people have at least one of these risk factors:
- Smoking;
- malnutrition;
- alcohol abuse;
- a sedentary lifestyle.
What is interesting - to restore order in this part of life does not require any serious material costs or time. That is, it only takes a certain volitional effort to give up momentary pleasure for the sake of a stable feeling of a strong and healthy body. But there is also the other extreme, namely, torturing yourself with excessive exercise or diet, to gain a beautiful, sexually attractive body. Advocates of such “extreme fitness” do not understand that miracles do not happen – nature cannot be deceived, and everyone is born the way he should be by nature. 3. Time.
Think about it – where do we spend our time? If you do not take into account work (distribution and use of working time is a separate topic), as well as sleep and eating, then here is a list of our activities that take up a significant part of free time:
- watching TV shows;
Talking on the phone with friends;
- visiting restaurants, nightclubs, bars and discos;
- Shopping, markets and hairdressers.
This list may, of course, vary according to the sex, age and social status of the individual and may be modified or supplemented. But the conclusion is still unambiguous – most of our activities can be completely abandoned, since they are absolutely useless. 4. Knowledge and ability
It is generally accepted that knowledge and abilities are the key to life success (if you take these terms in a broad context, of course). After all, there are extensive knowledge of fraud and great ability to make a career at the expense of others, for example. Accordingly, without them – you will be a loader or waitress, which does not add optimism, and to get an education – there is no money, not to mention the abilities that are given, though free, but exclusively from birth. Here lies the diabolical trick of our mind – on the one hand, it seems like everything is in your hands, Vasya from the house opposite from zero became a millionaire, and on the other hand – pounding, spinning, and all useless. Probably, either you need to spin more, or admit your complete incompetence - and go to the loaders, but what exactly to do? The answer is simple – you need to understand your true abilities and inclinations, and try to realize them as much as possible. Here, such concepts as career and success are obviously illusory – few people know how many of these “successful” people are internally deeply unhappy, doing things that are uninteresting for them for the sake of money or vanity. 5. Love and good attitude
Relations with others are the basis, the basis of human existence as a socially conditioned subject. Therefore, it seems quite natural that everyone tends to strive to be loved and understood by other people. But many people go to extremes – they want this attitude to themselves to be a universal property of everyone around them. It is no exaggeration to say that disapproval of society, as well as unrequited love for the opposite sex is the main factor that causes depression and suicide in the representatives of the European mentality. The roots of this are to be found in traditional Semitic religions, but it is a separate, very difficult topic. But the practical recommendation for overcoming most of these problems is quite simple: you just need to cultivate what is called “healthy cynicism”, in other words – a rational, without any emotions attitude to the impression you make on your environment. A person who suffers from a negative attitude towards himself usually does not think that people who negatively (or critically) evaluate him, with rare exceptions, have no moral right to do so – they themselves, to put it mildly, are not ideal. And the most paradoxical thing is that the most approval and respect of others is usually enjoyed by those subjects who themselves show indifference, or even open contempt for the opinion of themselves - such is the nature of man as a pack animal. At the subconscious level, a person mentally “raises the rating” of someone who is not looking for anyone’s approval – this is perceived as a sign of strength. Interestingly, this applies equally to relations with the opposite sex, as Pushkin said: “The less we love a woman, the easier she likes us.” 6. Good luck.
Oddly enough, but many people tend to consider luck as a self-sufficient factor affecting the course of life. Is that true?
Indeed, certain circumstances (in what era, in what country and in what family, hereditary inclinations) by definition do not depend on the will of a particular person. And there is only one way out: to accept everything as it is, that is, to stop regretting once and for all that cannot be changed. All other significant events, at first glance, do not depend on us, have a dual nature: each of them is really partly (or completely) random, but since there are so many such events throughout life, then the factor of chance is averaged in its bulk, and ceases to determine the “ultimate result” of your life. It's like a dice game - if you throw them once, then one of the players may have more result, but if you throw a hundred times - the total difference will be negligible. Yes, you can win a million dollars at a casino – but is that million enough for a lifetime, and if it’s enough for what? And will this win be beneficial? The same can be said about bad luck – even if your house burned down, is it a negative factor that affects the rest of your life? Have you been lucky enough to buy this house before? In fact, many people are simply engaged in elementary self-deception - under the "bad luck" often hides laziness, laziness, lack of willpower, and just subconscious reluctance to another, better life. What conclusions can be drawn?
Conclusion one. The so-called “civilized humanity” is essentially a crowd of complexed subjects whose personalities are to varying degrees deformed by improper upbringing (in the past) and zombified by sellers of various goods and services (in the present).
Conclusion two. Most of our needs (both material and emotional) are in fact externally inspired and do not reflect the true desires of the person. Simply put, we are subconsciously forced to desire what we most often do not need.
Point three. Most of our sorrows, fears, and expectations are due to illusory values and attitudes that we perceive as an integral part of our personality and do not even imagine that we could be different – although in a different life experience it would be. What do we do about it?
Step 1. Carefully analyze your lifestyle: what and how you eat, what bad habits you are exposed to, what you spend your time and money on, with whom and how you communicate, what you want and what you do not want, what most often pleases and what usually upsets you. Write it down in detail so that nothing is left out. Step 2. Eliminate all unnecessary things from your life. How to distinguish the unnecessary from the necessary? Very simple - on the basis of natural (biological and social) reasonableness and expediency. For example, the most common human weakness is the love of delicious food. Remember that food is not entertainment, but food! For example, candy or cake in your diet - items are absolutely useless, aimed exclusively at obtaining pleasure, but expensive and do not contribute to improving digestion and health. Better eat a couple of apples. Watching a TV series, as a rule, does not give anything to the mind or heart, but it negatively affects well-being. It is better to read a smart book (if there is no one on hand, then at least this article). Non-objective conversations "for life" on the phone or gathering with a neighbor for a beer - leaves nothing but a heap of unnecessary thoughts and a stale head. It is better to communicate with children or elderly parents - and they and you will enjoy it. If you smoke or drink, quit, either by yourself or with the help of a doctor. Here the comments are superfluous - the pleasure is short-term, but the problems are lifelong. Stop chasing things – a person doesn’t need as much as they usually think. A reasonable minimum in clothes, housing and household items will save you from having to look for money for new purchases and suffer from the fact that you could not afford them. There is no need to create a fetish out of entertainment and what is commonly called rest – in fact, there is no real need for all this. Biorhythms of the human body provide only one type of rest - night sleep once a day. That's it! The rest are civilizational inventions and old illusions. Spend a lot of money in order to sweat on the beach in the afternoon, and in the evening pour cocktails in the bar – what, and from what do you have a rest? Rethink your positions and you will save money, time and health (strangely enough, but many types of recreation and entertainment do not strengthen it, but undermine it).

Step 3. Accept the thought that you are exactly the person that nature created you. You can (and should!) improve yourself, but there are no miracles. Of course, you need to practice yourself regularly and persistently, but without fanaticism. From the implementation of the previous two steps, you have some free time - spend at least half an hour a day on exercise. It is within your power to perfect your body to its natural limits – and in most cases, the result will be even better than you expected. After achieving this result, you need to clearly understand for yourself: this is all, I will not become a model (athlete). But the world is inhabited by not only handsome and beautiful, so you need to get used to the idea that your external data will all be perceived exactly as they are. And you do not need to think all the time how you look, like or dislike others – from these thoughts your attractiveness will not become greater. And it is all the more useless to constantly try to appear better than you are – this often gives the opposite result in the eyes of others.

Step 4. Try to build your relationships with people based on your desires and likes. There is no need to spend time maintaining various connections just to feel important, or to improve your social status – this will not give you anything but time spent and feelings of frustration. You don’t have to try to prove to your partner that you’re better at something – you can’t prove it anyway, and you can ruin your relationship. Accept him as he is, and if you cannot bear the imperfection of your partner, break up. Don’t try to re-educate an adult – what’s the point of doing their parents’ work? Get rid of jealousy in all its forms - you are not the owner of your partner, are you? What does it matter to you, in what relationship and with whom he is, if specifically your relationship with him is quite satisfactory? One of the most useless things to do is to try to control the desires and behaviors of others, but the vast majority of people do it all the time.

However, a perfectly natural question may arise: will not such a resolute rejection of almost all pleasures and joys (even if illusory) lead to the loss of what is called “drive”, “joy of life”, in other words, will we not lose the feeling of happiness, which previously, though rarely, but visited us? Don’t worry, that won’t happen.





A solar panel and a rainwater collection system are installed on the roof.

Minimalism is not a form of asceticism, nor is it intended to “torture the flesh” in any form. The ability to enjoy the natural functions of the human body and mind is inherent in us, and to destroy this ability is not so easy. Proof of this is the extensive literature (both artistic and religious) about the numerous temptations that plagued the sinful souls of the so-called “saints”, and ordinary priests and monks. On the other hand, there are whole peoples who are deprived of the blessings of civilization that we are accustomed to, and for the most part they do not feel unhappy for this reason alone. We are talking about an arbitrary (i.e., forced) change in the so-called threshold of perception at which all these pleasures are felt.

For example, a hungry person gets more acute pleasure from eating a piece of black bread than a picky gourmet – from a Beijing duck. The same can be said for so-called spiritual needs – it’s far more fun to watch one really interesting, well-directed movie once a week than it is to watch another soap opera series every day. Of course, everything is not so simple - at first, when trying to change the established lifestyle, a person can experience a real "breakdown" from the fact that his body-mind has taken away the usual entertainment, that there is no more traditional cigarette in the morning and a glass of beer in the evening, there is no big holiday cake on the weekend, there is no feeling of pleasant stupor to the chatter of some "nanny" from the series. But nothing is eternal – as you know, everything passes, this will pass. In return, a sense of clarity in your desires will gradually appear in your life – as if the camera’s lens had been sharpened. Pleasures will become more acute and feelings more meaningful. You will become more aware of what you want and what you do not want, what you really like and what does not bring any joy. You will become a real gourmet in life, not a bored grumpy with perverse needs, who often just does not know what to do with himself.

There may also be concerns that relationships with others will be disrupted. But if they do, they are only as important as the causes that caused them. After all, miracles do not happen – far-fetched, superfluous, artificial “requisites” of our lives generate the same relationships between people. For example, attempts to hide flaws in appearance (clothes, excessive makeup) give a short-term effect, creating the appearance of attractiveness – but then all this collapses, causing the opposite effect. The same can be said about the relationship that develops on the basis of joint visits to bars, discos, picnics – as they say, “as came and gone”. So what do you regret – a true, deep relationship, or its illusions? True love and friendship do not need external decorations, for they come from within human nature. Therefore, in relationships with people, you will become less worried about what your friend Vasya will think of you, and therefore it will become easier to deny your friends what you do not want and ask them to do what you would like them to do. You will lose a whole bunch of friends with whom you have nothing but a feast – but you will have more time and desire to communicate with those who are really dear to you. As a side-effect, you’ll find it easier to plan your time and money at the same time – there’ll just be more than there was before.

That's it, I guess. About minimalism in detail, you can write a thick book, if you aim to describe all possible life situations in which such an approach is appropriate. But it’s unreal, it’s like living someone else’s life. The choice in each situation is yours.





Source: mnmlist.ru/