Minimalism or simple living?

A few weeks ago, I wrote that minimalism appears to be going mainstream – at least judging from the amount of media attention it’s gotten lately. It’s not hard to understand why; in this economy – with an unemployment rate officially hovering around 10%, and an unofficial one that’s a lot higher – any media report that shows people an extreme way to downsize their lives is going to be very popular.

Online, blogs about minimalism seem to be popping up all over the place like mushrooms after a rain. Dare I say it? Minimalism seems dangerously close to becoming a…well…fad. And as more folks jump on this particular bandwagon, as the blogosphere becomes more crowded with ‘minimalists’, I’ve noticed the definition of the word being somewhat arbitrarily expanded beyond what I’ve always understood it to mean.

Because of this, I’ve been giving my previous post some more thought and asking myself some questions. Should my blog be about simple living or minimalism? Is there really a difference? Does the life I’ve been striving for fit the minimalist mold or am I working toward simplicity?

Does it matter?

Yes, I think it does. Just to clarify in my mind what we’re all blogging about and what, exactly, I’m working toward, I spent some time with a dictionary this morning. You might be interested in what I found.

I started with minimal.

• Minimal: relating to or being a minimum, as: the least possible or barely adequate.

Hmm. Is a barely adequate lifestyle my goal? Is that what most of us aspire to?

Uh no, I don’t think so. Least possible (in terms of stuff) sorta works, but barely adequate ain’t gonna cut it. Not for me, anyway. This, in fact, led me to look up poverty. Here’s what we have:

• Poverty: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions; may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to an absence of material comforts.

Okaaay…according to this definition, ‘minimal’ sounds awfully close to ‘poverty’ but not quite. A very fine line, apparently. From what I’ve seen, a minimalist likely has a socially acceptable amount of money (though not always), but deliberately chooses to live without a socially acceptable number of material possessions. (The term ‘socially acceptable’ certainly might warrant its own blog post, however.)

Let’s move on. How about minimalism then?

• Minimalism: a style or technique (as in music, literature or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness or simplicity.

Right. ‘Spareness’  still seems synonymous with ‘least possible’ and ‘barely adequate’ to me, but given that we’re talking about the arts here, there’s also an aesthetic element involved. This implies deliberation or mindfulness. And if we consider ‘design’ to include ‘lifestyle design’, it becomes even more so. But still, ‘spareness’ isn’t exactly what I envision for my life either. What about you?

Hey, let’s go back to ‘minimalism’ again and take a look at that last word, simplicity. Good word, I think:

• Simplicity: the state of being simple, uncomplicated or uncompounded.

Now we’re getting somewhere! Now, how about simple?

• Simple: free from ostentation or display; constituting a basic element. Fundamental.

Eureka! Even better! Combine the two and you have:

• Simplicity: the state of being free from ostentation or display; uncomplicated, or uncompounded. Fundamental.

I think that works pretty well to define simple living too. Okay, things are getting clearer. Minimalism – the original definition of the word – is not my goal. I do not want to live a life of aesthetic but barely adequate spareness. Back when I was a twenty-something, it might have had some appeal, but not now. I can certainly see how it allows you to just pack up on a whim and move on, but for those of us who are homebodies and nesters, it’s not gonna work.

I do, however, want to be a nester whose life is fundamentally simple, uncomplicated, and free from ostentation.

And you know what? I also want a life that’s optimal. Let’s look at that one.

• Optimal: most desirable or satisfactory.

In simple living circles, optimal often is translated into the idea of right sizing. There we go: A right-sized life that’s fundamentally simple, uncomplicated and free from ostentation!

Just to be thorough, let’s throw in a couple other related terms: deliberate and mindful, both mentioned earlier. Here’s what I found:

• Deliberate (adj.): characterized by or resulting from careful and thorough consideration; characterized by awareness of the consequences.

• Mindful: Bearing in mind; inclined to be aware.

Both relate equally to minimalism as well as simple living. There’s no question that giving up a life of zombie consumption in favor of something far simpler is a deliberate choice.

So now we have pretty much all the information we need to fully and accurately define what we’re all blogging about – or should be. We can write about:

• Minimalism: A deliberately designed lifestyle of barely adequate spareness characterized by living with the least possible number of material possessions.

or we can focus on:

• Simple living: A deliberately right-sized lifestyle that’s free from ostentation or display, uncomplicated and fundamental.

The point is, I think it’s clear there is a difference and that simple living is the broader of the two. While it’s safe to say that all minimalists live simply, only a small minority of simple-livers can accurately refer to themselves as minimalists. All of us, however, are working on finding our enough-point and that’s what matters.

How about you? Do you aspire to a spare life of minimalism? Or are you more interested in a right-sized, though somewhat larger life of simplicity? There’s no wrong answer here but I do believe it’s important to be clear on what we’re all talking about.

The bottom (literally!) line: here at White Pines Whisper, I blog about simple living.

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Tagged as: consumerism, enough, Frugality, minimalism, Musings, Simple living