There is an ordinary bedroom inside the Hermann Twin Towers building in East Berlin, Germany. Sunlight shines in from the spacious and bright floor-to-ceiling windows, and all the furnishings in the room are a white bed and a yellow floor lamp. Apart from that, there is nothing else. This is the home of German female architect Eva Maria Stedel in East Berlin. She lives and works in it, but unlike other designers, she has piles of dazzling objects. Don't be surprised to learn that Eva was neither a believer in some Eastern religion nor a frugal ascetic. She is just a minimalist style designer and has turned this minimalist aesthetic into her life belief.
There are no redundant furnishings, and daily necessities are reduced to a minimum. Eva said, "This extreme reduction makes it easier to focus on the few objects in the room. This environment is calming and makes your senses sharper." It is the basic belief of minimalists. Also believing in minimalism is our great Mr. Jobs. It is said that Steve Jobs owned very few items during his lifetime. Apart from the black shirt he wore all year round, he only had an expensive set of audio equipment. Jobs was also a Zen believer, and the reduction of items reflected the purity of his mind. There are no clutter, no distracting thoughts, so there is a state of perfection. Apple's simple and stylish product style and corporate culture are inseparable from Steve Jobs' philosophy. It can be said that it is precisely because of Jobs' simplicity that Apple has become popular in the world.
We live in an era where garbage is everywhere. Every time you blink, thousands of cell phones, thousands of computers, and tens of thousands of items of clothing are being shipped to landfills around the world. These items are not thrown away because they have lost their functionality, but because the company has released a newer version to replace it. These new versions are just stories made up by companies in order to make more profits, and they use various modern communication methods to coax consumers to pay for them. And these so-called newer and better things will soon become yesterday's flowers on the garbage truck. So, what do consumers get? A real improvement in quality of life? Or is it fashionable and decent showing off capital? Is it the gentle enjoyment of inner pleasure? Or the endless desire to buy? Is it taste? Is it the texture? Is it necessary? Is it an expression of one’s own personality? Or a bubble? Is it fast food? Chasing the wind? Are you unwilling to lag behind as others say?
The proliferation of substances involves not only environmental issues, but also our spiritual issues. Advertising enslaves and catalyzes our desire to buy things we don’t need. We work hard to do this. Use 100 hours of overtime in exchange for a Donkey bag, and then spend more time in exchange for diamond necklaces and luxury cars, maybe just for a slogan in an advertisement. In the past, when diamonds had not yet entered the consumer field, people lived very well. Later, after being brainwashed by a certain diamond company, it was said that diamonds represent love, so one more item was added to our life goals: diamonds. Later, when more and more industries brainwashed people, our life goals began to become extremely huge, including clothing, mobile phones, perfumes, digital devices, cars, beauty massages, star hotels, and a trip here. Only thing is missing: the ideal. On the material level, we know that we want this, that, and everything. But once we return to the essential level, we are at a loss. We have no idea about our own concepts of life and time, and our awareness of our surroundings is getting weaker and weaker, sometimes even worse than that of a kitten. All this depends on material alienation. We exchange our lives and time for meaningless industrial copies, and these copies have become a burden because we have to spend more time packing, using, and taking care of these copies. When we complain about being buried by the trivial matters of life, perhaps it is precisely because we are buried by our own belongings. This is the alienation of things from people.
So for minimalists, they know what they want and can better distinguish what they don’t need. He would rather spend 100,000 yuan to buy a painting by his favorite artist than 4,000 yuan to buy a tablet he doesn't need.
Because items must serve your life ideals, rather than changing your life ideals for the sake of items. Taiwanese writer Shu Guozhi still rents a house without even air conditioning or television. This seems quite shabby in the eyes of ordinary people, but it is the foundation for Shu Guozhi's happy life. He drank expensive wine with friends in a high-end hotel during the day, and slept soundly in a clean room at night. No unnecessary distractions. It is really pleasant to walk, eat and drink tea. Liberate yourself from external objects, thus cultivating a rich heart. His philosophy on life has become a fashion that Taiwanese literary and artistic youths are eager to imitate.
In addition to the material realm, we need to liberate ourselves from endless items; in life, we also need to streamline our lives and liberate ourselves from endless desires. Modern people don't have many hobbies (if watching TV online and shopping and eating at parties can be considered hobbies, I would be speechless), but they always feel that there is not enough time. Apart from working overtime to make money and going shopping, all our time is spent on Weibo soap operas. Turn off the computer, close your eyes, and suddenly feel the emptiness of life. Only in remote villages can you still see the joy that various folk arts bring to life. It is a kind of fun that can be savored carefully. It is a kind of fun that can last forever with life and dance with time. pleasure. In the city, calligraphy, poetry, dance and fine arts have all become the preserve of a few people, or a past they once had. Not only art, but also our ideals and past pursuits have all been defeated by modernity. Modernity has given birth to desire and squeezed the tranquility and freedom of the heart. We are infected with various hidden diseases, such as Internet addiction, game addiction, shopping addiction, and TV watching addiction. If someone did not have the above addictions, how comfortable he would be. He could focus on doing things that he considered important, such as planting flowers and raising fish, studying photography, and focusing on starting a business. Every minute of his life would be well spent. You will feel that your life has been wasted.
However, many of us do not have such a state, so our lives are chaotic. Sometimes I dance, sometimes I learn the violin, sometimes I go to church to listen to mass, and sometimes I burn incense and worship Buddha with others. Desires are endless, I want to do everything, and in the end I have no time to do anything. Looking back, I feel like I've lost something. Therefore, we might as well let go of everything and let life return to a blank slate. Without any interference, our hearts will emerge and we will know what we want and how we want to spend this life. Only in this way can we follow our hearts and live as we please.
To sum up, minimalism is not asceticism. It does not prohibit our desires, but liberates us from various oppressions so that we can live a better life. Minimalism is not asceticism. It does not deny the role of things, but makes better use of things to serve life itself. It focuses on life itself and resists the alienation of objects.
I am not a minimalist. I myself am often troubled by the complexity of my life. Although I have been trying to get rid of unnecessary things in the room, my room is still getting increasingly crowded; although Zen masters teach us to let go of all the connections, I still have many thoughts. But I believe minimalism offers us a healthy lifestyle. Like Zen Buddhism, it is a belief that leads to a state of perfection.