Minimalism Manifesto
Shopping malls. Factory farms. Death camps. Slavery. Corpocracies. Oligopolies. Television. The Internet. Is all of this really “progress?” Is the continuing rape and destruction of land and environment going anywhere? What are we, as a species, trying to prove by doing such things? How is this helping us raise our consciousness? The media keeping us in fear over how many people died today, that you could be murdered in your sleep by one of those faceless evil monsters that always seem to be lurking around in your neighborhood. Or the advertisements that come on for security systems right after. “If you buy this ADT alarm system, you will be safe from all predators.” The media is nothing more than an advertising medium to persuade people to further participate in the destruction of the world by buying more things that come not from the store, but from the Earth. Consumption is an addiction, but to everyone, it’s okay. No one is judged for it, and yet it is far more destructive than anything else.
And I don’t blame people for being in this sort of mindset. It is forced upon you at every angle. The next thing you buy will solve all your problems. That new camera phone will allow me to preserve my memories for just this much longer. The new laptop will be faster and easier to use, so that the rest of my valuable time can be taken up watching television shows that depict people who are living beyond any means I can ever afford. Television will tell me how to live my life and what I should consider important, not to mention which brands I should buy. It will tell me how to think and how to react to certain circumstances and I have to passively accept it as the images just keep flowing, all of which I have no control over. I am doing exactly what they want me to do, and it is making corporations a whole lot of money, but not myself. I am in debt up to my eyeballs and my house has a foreclosure on it, but at least I have that new deluxe, premium, luxury printer-copier-fax machine-toaster-washing machine combination with three free stacks of printing paper and one box of fabric softener.
I guess most of these people take their spending habits from their government. Look at how far the U.S. as a whole is in debt. If the entire government isn’t going to be responsible with their money, then why should the citizens? Why shouldn’t they just all max out their credit cards and spend the rest of their lives (and beyond) paying back to these corporations that get richer and richer from your 18% interest every month of every year? These companies even market to people with bad credit because they know that these people will make them a whole lot of money because they have a history of buying things they cannot afford. It is this type of manipulation that really pisses me off. And I feel bad for the people who are trapped in situations like that. They are dead broke and are thousands in debt and there is no way out, except bankruptcy. Then they are owned by their credit score and can’t get a loan, can’t buy a house, a car, a fucking toaster without surrendering to a credit history report.
What ever happened to saving for things until you had enough money? The joy of counting your money as you saved up for the new bike or the video game your parents wouldn’t buy for you. I’ll tell you what happened. The invention of credit cards makes it so easy to buy something now and pay for it later, at a much higher cost. But when you are out buying it, no one thinks of the consequences until the bill comes in. Then it’s like, “Oh, shit. Remember that 4-pack of HD-ready televisions we bought? Yeah, they want $8000 this month, and that’s just our minimum payment.” I love how these commercials say “No money down,” and that attracts people because they don’t have to pay for it right away, but they still get to have it. “Look at our beautiful couch. Cost us nothing, so far.” But the whole notion that buying these things will ease our insecurities and make us feel good about ourselves is just the advertising industry trying to tell us how to live. “If you don’t have and iPod, you’ll never fit in. You’ll be the outcast of society.” “Well, I’d better go pick up that iPod. I don’t want to be some loser with no friends. I must conform or suffer extreme isolation the rest of my life.” And that’s the consciousness that advertising attempts to shove down our throats. The fact that some item, some thing, will ease our problems and make life so much better. And most of the time, these advertisers are wrong.
This is why I choose (consciously) to adopt what I refer to as minimalism. You own the bare essentials. You only hold onto what is useful , beautiful or brings you joy and discard the rest. You embrace what is referred to as a simple lifestyle, but in a voluntary way. I did a joke onstage about my minimalism once that went something like this, “Instead of looking for apartments in the want ads, I look for any empty closets.” It is liberating to think this way because instead of looking for what else you can accumulate, you now look for what you no longer need to do without, like my life-size Spongebob Squarepants doll. I am further limiting my television exposure as well and the Internet, which has become my surrogate television with the advent of Youtube and other television-esque websites. I just bought this wallet online called the Jimi, which is a very small and compact wallet that only holds the minimal of items. Five cards and three dollar bills. I just don’t want to have a wallet like George Costanza from Seinfeld. I remember a quote from that episode: “Everything in that wallet I need.” And then Jerry takes out a card, “Show this card at your local Miami area gas station and receive a free ‘Save the Tiger’ T-shirt.” I guess free clothes is one of his top priorities.
Being minimalist is soothing, liberating, and just wonderful to be exact. The best part about it is I do not need to work excessive hours to meet my needs. I sympathize for the people who work 60 hour work weeks to keep up with buying all the unnecessary items they think they need, like a new outfit every week. I really feel for you, and I want you to know there is a way out. Move into a smaller house, get a smaller car, buy less stuff, sell all the extraneous clutter that has found its way into your life, quit your evil corporate job and find something that suits you, that really fits your character. Drop out of the rat race and start to slow down to the speed of life. Do only the essential tasks to bring you joy, happiness and fulfillment. Don’t buy into buying things just because your neighbors do. The one who dies with the most toys does not win. The one who dies with the most toys is dead, just like the one who dies with five dollars in his pocket and no current residence. And you can’t take that new stereo system with you. You can bury it with your body, but where your spirit is going, you might as well sell everything and give the money to charity before you depart into the big sleep. Contribute gently into that good night, and do it peacefully.
I have to admit the first thing that sparked this minimalist behavior was a movie from Hollywood. It was called Fight Club. It was the one line that really said it all to me: “The things you own start to own you.” And there were other various lines in the movie along the same premise and it was what some would call counterculture. It was what others would call Zen, enlightenment, or liberation. Now, I didn’t accept the whole film’s message and start underground boxing rings and terrorize cities, although I did so something similar on one of the college campuses I attended. It wasn’t nearly anywhere as extreme. It was only after I got out of there that I started practicing minimalism and the theory that a cluttered home equals a cluttered life.
I started listening to media sources outside the mainstream, such as anti-television personas such as Ron Kaufman, and adopted some of the philosophies of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. I began perusing simplicity sites and forums to see how much further down I could go. I surely didn’t want to end up with an empty room or an empty house, but questioning what was necessary and what made me happy as the only essentials, I began to strip down significantly. Some of my family members would gasp as they saw my perfectly organized room, free of clutter. They gave me praise for being so diligent and disciplined, but I did not do this for their approval. I did this for myself. I did this to avoid spending countless hours looking for my cell phone or glasses. I did this to feel free of the consumer culture and that mindset that rules ever fiber of our being. I breathe easily knowing the consumption will only get worse and more unsustainable until it destroys itself and completely vanishes. It will be the next step in our evolution. Some people say this will happen as early as 2012. It’s certainly possible, but I don’t see it happening that fast, but I can’t rule anything out. I try to keep an open mind.
So very few blogs of today talk about minimalism and its benefits. Simplicity is big, but minimalism is not as big, but they are essentially very similar, but minimalism is to the extreme. They should have it in the X-games. The challenge could be to see who could live on nothing but so much food, a bed, and a shack in the woods for a year. Just tossing ideas out there. I take great comfort in knowing that my wardrobe will probably last me at least five more years, except undergarments of course. The cost of a thing is the amount of my life I have to give up in order to attain it. I am not saying that everyone is trying to sell you something, but I find it interesting, studying Zen and all, which pretty much endorses the minimalist lifestyle, saying you have to buy special mats to meditate on and a Zen garden, and some sort of robe. Mostly everything, but not completely anything, is a marketing campaign and I am so glad I am no longer a part of it. Come join me in my minimalism. As long as you’re not a minimalist whose only agenda is to maximize profits, you’re golden in my book.