My kind of Minimalism — July noted — Entry 02
Art by juliaveldmanc on GIPHY
Since sitting down to write this piece, I wanted to explore the universe (maybe not “the universe” but our universe anyway) by asking big questions and thinking deep and shallow. But my best friend (common sense) told me to stick to the rule numero uno, “Write what you know” for now. Thereby I am writing about how I created a personalized Minimalism for myself to experience.
The situation
By the end of August 2017, I was buzzing with energy from recently having been to the greatest and the most inspiring event I have ever experienced. I didn’t think that I would need a system, organization of sort or anything to get my life in order, so that I can direct my buzzing energy to good use. I, in fact, thought that all is right in the world and my life is perfectly okay without the organization.
By the end of October 2017, I had gathered my friends, several times already, to share the buzz in my mind in the hopes of calming it down as well as inspiring them in the process. Though it was wonderful to spread great ideas, experiment with them in action and bring so different spirit into our friends’ gatherings, it still didn’t improve my focus and performance at whatever I was doing.
By the end of December 2017, I was at the verge of breaking down from too much hype, too much energy and too little consideration and contemplation on how and where to direct them. I have been reading too much, I have been watching too much and I have been trying so many things all at once. Generally I have been consuming so much information without any clear purpose other than “just in case I need this book/documentary/ article/whatever it is later on”.
That’s when I decided that I need some mechanism to get rid of my excessive stuff in both idealistic and materialistic sense. The decision didn’t come with the stark realization or any sense of clarity like they write in simplistic fictions.
Art by MothraLeo on DeviantArt
One. Then, I had watched the classic Fight Club recently and found myself fully drawn to the film. While googling for the famous warning from Tyler Durden, I thought to myself that Tyler Durden could be a minimalist.
While not being entirely familiar with the term “minimalist”, I knew and read some of The Minimalists’ posts. One search about Tyler Durden in The Minimalists’ blog archive revealed that they thought the same too. In their blog post, The Minimalists listed their favorite minimalist quotes and here, I am listing my favorites from their list:
This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.
Hitting bottom isn’t a weekend retreat. It’s not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything, and just let go! LET GO!
Fuck what you know. You need to forget about what you know, that’s your problem. Forget about what you think you know about life, about friendship, and especially about you and me.
Reject the basic assumptions of civilization — especially the importance of material possessions.
Photo by The Minimalists
Two. After digging into The Minimalists’ introduction to concept of minimalism which I called the formal minimalism, I found the most important piece to my journey, their 21-day journey as a blog entry.
Reading their entry day by day, I contemplated on whether to make the move into minimalism. I didn’t decide to do it right away. So, I put it on hold for the time being.
Soon enough, I found the last piece of puzzle that is my kind of minimalism thanks to the late mathematician Dr. Paul Erdős. You can visit his Wikipedia page or his biography here to be amazed by his “oddness”.
Photo on Wikipedia
Three. What does a mathematician have to do with minimalism, you ask? Well, he was a true minimalist in his own way. It’s noted that for the most of the last 30 years of his life, Dr. Erdős lived out of a suitcase, solving mathematical problems, collaborating with his fellow mathematicians and growing mathematical seed in young thinkers’ minds. He was a free soul whose brain was open to the most abstract of notions.
The finds
I had a warning from an old, imagined character in a satirical film.
I had the modern, formal definitions of the concept itself (minimalism) by the original concept-livers.
I had the oddness of a late, beloved mathematician who lived by the concept and loved for the mathematics.
I had just what I needed to derive my on kind of minimalism.
The results
I went on, conceptualized, experimented and bettered my version of minimalism for the next 6 weeks. You can read the whole process on the series I wrote as I progressed here.
After 6 weeks, I got a concept and process of my own that I came to call my minimalism.
My minimalism is unapologetic like Tyler Durden’s.
My minimalism is structured like The Minimalists’.
My minimalism is dedicated like Paul Erdős’s (or as dedicated as my anything can be).
My minimalism is mine.
I also believe that your minimalism should be yours too.
End note to my meta-challenge partner:
Aminzul Davaa, the second post is up! Thank you for pushing me forward!