Questions such as these allow us to understand and redefine the avenues we have chosen in our lives. Such roads tend to shape our personal, professional, and social personalities in ways that we seldom understand but feel their omnipresent effects.
One such effect is the minimalist movement.
Minimalism requires its practitioners to reduce the clutter they face in their daily lives, space, and actions. When one applies the same principle towards creativity and consumption, minimalism asks us to understand the adage that less is more.
Less is more, as a concept has been seen to be extensively used in the creative world, but today questions are being raised about the sphere of influence of this adage in one’s life and action. Is this influence of the minimalist movement a benefit or a deterrent to one’s social, personal, and professional lives, and is this movement asking us to sacrifice elements, both creative and material, that defines who we are?
Roots. The roots of a plant are not in question, but rather the roots that you trace back to your upbringing and that define what sort of a person you are. Your roots define your past and give meaning to your present.
Our roots are a product of a different time and do not conform to modern creative concepts. These learnings, habits and beliefs that make up our roots are a product of thousands of years of human evolution and often embody valuable lessons in life and ways to make choices for a better one.
Minimalism asks us to let go of the excess and strive to live with the minimum. Comparing this philosophy with one’s culture and traditions, people do feel and understand the stark opposite nature of the teachings of these philosophies.
The philosophy of minimalism is often seen as a product of the well-to-do rather than the common people, for it demands us to reduce distractions and other commitments to one’s circle. This simply cannot happen in the lives of the middle and lower classes due to their responsibilities. But that is where we can introduce another argument that just might be able to answer the question.
With the stark limitations of minimalism when compared to the vibrant and contagious energy of one’s culture, we realize that this comparison fails to make sense when we see it from a specific perspective. Such concerns are valid and well-founded, for the beauty of one’s culture and traditions are often realized in the belief that it is full of life, and this saying does not and will not explicitly invite the minimalism philosophy in it.
Minimalism asks us to reduce the clutter in one’s life. Clutter could be the physical haphazardness of things in your room, or it could be the distractions in your daily life that have a detrimental effect on you.
Focusing on the philosophy of minimalism rather than its creative output, people can hope to realize that minimalism is just another pitstop in our lives for finding a better formula that helps us deal with problems and rise above them.
When we allow this perspective and choose to think from this viewpoint, we stand to realize that creative or design thinking movements do not impact our roots, for they can only do so if we allow it or misunderstand what it means. Minimalism simply means to reduce the unwanted parts of our lives, and that can be simply a vital chance attitude that can help numerous individuals find a better way to live.
At the end of the day, the minimalist movement is a creative and design-thinking movement that is gaining traction. Yes, the people are split between getting behind it and against it for numerous reasons that are not the purview of this article. Rather, the belief that minimalism invites us to rethink the unnecessary or excessive aspects of life, both materialistic and abstract, can be learnt to let go to make space for more meaningful experiences.
