VII. Full Circle
In The Longing for Less, Chayka writes: “Minimalism, to me, is more about attention than anything else. It advocates seeing the world not as a series of products to consume, but sensory experiences to have on your own terms.” I’m always inspired by this quote from a 1933 essay called “In Praise of Shadows,” by the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki: “We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.”
It’s funny how things come around.
In my first semester at U-M, I took an introductory philosophy class called Philosophy of the Arts. It was a bit of a weird class, as freshmen level philosophy classes taught by a really clever, but pedagogically inexperienced graduate student instructor trying to get a bunch of freshmen to understand the rantings and ravings of Kant, Nietzsche and Heidegger tend to be. I spent many days zoning out. There was one reading though, that did stick with me, and it comes back as I write this essay in my final semester of college.
I remember reading the same Tanizaki piece that Chayka quotes, and being inspired by the concepts of shadows, light and darkness. It’s something that has never left me, and I grew to love the beauty of ephemerality, imperfection, things in progress. I relished coming to understand the beauty of passing moments. When I came to learn of the concept of wabi-sabi, everything seemed to come together. Nothing is beautiful in isolation. It’s always about context. How interesting that something I read in my first semester of college comes back in my readings during my final semester of college.
Shadows fascinate me.You need something to cast the shadows. The shadows are not the objects themselves, but mere imprints, outlines of darkness against light. Yet, they represent an image, an impression of the objects they come from. You cannot have shadows without shadow-casters. But a shadow of a vase is not the vase itself. In a similar way, the objects in our external lives cast shadows, or imprints on our inner states. It’s not about the possession of the vase, it is the shadow the vase casts on your memory. The objects in our lives cast shadows on our spirits, and the shadow-casting is like a bridge between our external world and our internal world.
Kami are the spirits present in every object, place and person in this world, according to Shinto beliefs. These are invisible, but internally tangible forces attributed to physically tangible places, people and things. When we think about the impact of our material stuff, we aren’t talking about just our stuff. Nicodemus and Millburn are both right and wrong. They are right, our attachment to people does spill over into things. We aren’t attached to the things in and of itself, but something deeper.
The trend of minimalism has its roots in something deeper than just our stuff. In truth, minimalism as a philosophy, a trend, a fad, a lifestyle, a spiritual pursuit, goes beyond the issues of stuff, philosophy, ethics and whatever. It’s about choices, and what we choose to focus on in relation to what we put aside for it. What you prioritize, and what you are willing to sacrifice, is all about choices, and these choices define you. Let’s be real, this minimalism thing could all be just a really superficial fad, and it will probably pass. Why talk about it at all?
I was really skeptical about minimalism to start. I sit in my empty, clean room that’s easy to utilize, but also just really dull. There are no pictures on the wall to make me feel home. My decor is gone, and my room feels 2 dimensional and flat. I guess I’m more detached and apathetic.
Yet, what I’ve discovered about minimalism is that to me, it’s just a way of making decisions about how you manage the external space of your life, and bridge that connection to your inner space, and this extends to a lot of other things people choose to channel their energy, emotions and spirit into, be it dance, decorating, CrossFit, bullet journalling, or cooking. A chef decides which sauce to use, but the journey through which he understood why he wants to use that sauce over any other means something to him. He has made choices along the way that have made him who he is at that point. Even if he doesn’t care, well, not caring is a choice. A CrossFitter may choose to head to the gym, instead of to church. A scientist may decide to use this reaction, or that in their lab. For a minimalist, by exerting control over what enters their life space and being extremely selective and curatorial over it, one makes a statement about the value placed on what enters their life, and that brings a kind of inner peace. And I guess I understand better, that minimalist, or maximalist, or artist, or scientist or whatever, we are all just trying to make the connection and make the peace between our external realities and internal ones.
We are all searching for the right things to cast the shadows that mean the most.