Seriously thoughtful A Life ?

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Religion can't be built around selfishness...

It can't? (doggie ponders the recent newspaper headlines)

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

A successful religion can't be built around selfishness...

Fixed it for you.....

[beppe]

The closing up of self on nothing is a very old practice. In Japan there is a large proportion of young people closed up in their room with just the screen of the computer as a window on something else than the internal void. They even have a name. In Japan they have to be in school from 7am to 10pm, somebody was telling me just to day. So maybe it is the excess of pressure.

When I was young, many "sons of the flowers" went around with nothing in their pockets and crossed America like that. Somebody remembers the drop outs and the pictures on Milk cartons? Few times guys knocked at my door saying I am a friend of Bob, or Brian, or whatever, can I sleep here to night? and he had nothing with him. Not even a face to show. He did not wanted to eat, or to chat. Or nothing. Just a place to spend the night.

[kindlekitten]

it strikes me as being rather narcissistic. a total focus on and love of self to the point of walking away from all of life's other responsibilities of home ownership/apartment dwelling and so on. these are folks with good jobs and good money that don't want to play in the adult end of the pool. my son is in D.C. and has done a great deal of couch surfing over the past couple of years simply because he has had several places he was trying to buy bought out right from under him.

I momentarily tried to look at it as a new breed of "cowboy" but even that doesn't qualify

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by dsvick

Fixed it for you.....

Yes, thank you. It could have been said with " lasting" also...

We must also be reminded that religion is built around a faith in a supernatural power. These people built a cult around themselves...

[pholy]

"All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air..."
"Lots of chocolates for me to eat..." and books to read...


And all my 'stuff', too.

Yeah, couch surfing is not my idea of a life. And you can't eat bytes, no matter what they sound like.

I think I read or heard somewhere that all (successful/lasting) religions centre around compassion. That seems to fit, for me. I'm not sure Buddhism involves a 'supernatural power', by the way - but I don't really know or understand it, so I could be wrong.

[kindlekitten]

this sounds NOTHING like Buddhism to me. just minnimalist highly expensive materialism with patient or whimpy friends

[Ben Thornton]

My perhaps cynical view is that successful religions centre around propagating themselves. Whatever will attract followers and pass on to the next generation succeeds. So, not many Shakers, for example.

[yvanleterrible]

Shakers are Christians.

[bjones6416]

I think this is part that turned me off the most:

a backpack full of designer clothing, a laptop, an external hard drive, a small piano keyboard and a bicycle - an armful of goods that totals over $3,000 (£1,890) in value.

Good grief, if you want to be a vagabond, be a vagabond, but if you need to carry around $3,000 worth of electronics and designer clothes you are NOT a minimalist by my definition.

On the flip side of that, I have spells of feeling as if I'm owned by my possessions. I've just got too much stuff, and it's suffocating sometimes. But then I'll come home after a bad day and it all feels so comfortably familiar and the cats jump up in my lap and go to sleep and I remember why there's no place like home.

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Shakers are Christians.

Yes, but that particular sect is dying out because of its self-defeating rules. My point was that the common denominator of successful religions was that they had rules that led to increase/maintenance of membership. One could argue that this is tautological, because any religion in decline lacks, by definition, whatever qualities are required to maintain its membership. I suppose that all I was saying is that there seems to be precious little else that they all have in common.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Shakers are Christians.

non-propigating, non-evangelical sect. planned obselesence?

[DixieGal]

Tim and I live very minimally. BuT not stupidly, like the people in the article. The poster above mentioned the six month rule. We go by more of a 1 yr rule, due to some stuff being seasonal. Instead of accumulating, we try to spend our time and money LIVING, such as going places and doing things. And meeting people. Two extroverts put to make a bunch of memories can collect a lot of people.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Yes, but that particular sect is dying out because of its self-defeating rules. My point was that the common denominator of successful religions was that they had rules that led to increase/maintenance of membership. One could argue that this is tautological, because any religion in decline lacks, by definition, whatever qualities are required to maintain its membership. I suppose that all I was saying is that there seems to be precious little else that they all have in common.

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

non-propigating, non-evangelical sect. planned obselesence?

Ah, but their notoriety is evangelical in itself. They don't hammer their religion in a child's brain like most Christians, their way of life is the selfless example. Pretty much like monks. I'm not defending them although I am envious of their strength...
How has their sect lasted so long? By the word. The word is the evangelist in their case. No religion lasts without a written word. What will the minimalists do when the Holy Hard Drive fries?


Over here all Christian communities are on the decline. Individualism is responsible.
This is the point that creates discomfort and also a reason why a sect like those minimalist evangelists do exist.

You know...their plight resembles a child's house in a tree. A place filled with toys and dreams and a brief moment of security. But sooner or later you have to get out to eat or mama will spank you...

[Moejoe]

I love it, and I'm all for digital minimalism coupled with the beauty of wandering (Flâneur). My closest friend introduced me to foraging, wild cookery, Daoism and I was already cutting back on what I owned and needed, so I have a lot of sympathy with those walking a less travelled path.

If anybody is interested and in the North West of England the official website of La Société des Flâneurs Sans Frontières (Liverpool chapter) is here: http://www.theflaneur.co.uk/

You might also, in your sojourn away from the shackles of modern capitalism and ownership, enjoy idling. http://idler.co.uk/

As I have learned, through many bad and good experiences, ownership and planning for the future are the two surest paths towards disappointment. The happy accident (and is not love the happiest of all accidents?) the strolling without destination (this is without doubt the greatest of experiences), that which is done without foresight and machination, is always for the better.