I’m 43; I’ve been practicing voluntary simplicity for over a decade and currently practice a non-extreme minimalism. But I’m also a professor, which means everything is subject to critical analysis and questioning … including my own activities. For the last week or so I’ve been adding minimalist lifestyle and voluntary simplicity blogs to my BlockSite [...]
I’m 43; I’ve been practicing voluntary simplicity for over a decade and currently practice non-extreme minimalism. But I’m also a professor, which means everything is subject to critical analysis and questioning … including the things I believe in. Which leads to this post…. Is U.S.-style minimalism well-adapted to the Great Recession? It sounds like a [...]
My university department is about to move to a new building, which, as you can see from the photo, means that I need to pack everything up. That’s all right; I enjoy moving. It gives me a chance to scrutinize my possessions and think about what’s still working for me and what isn’t. And that’s [...]
Today I ran across this video on the New York Times about the “Six Items or Less” challenge. I was fascinated from both a minimalism and masochism (the “could I stand this?” attitude they describe in the video) point of view. Although I find clothing interesting in the abstract — I wrote my dissertation about [...]
Over the last few weeks I’ve been immersed in trying to outline two of my novel projects. Dead Horse is the working title of a high seas fantasy novel I’ve been developing intermittently for a few years, and I’ve finally got it plotted out to the end. Whew! I know, I know, the title is [...]
I’ll be going to Anime Expo tomorrow (Friday) to participate in the Anime and Manga Research Circle panel at noon. I’d love to talk to other BL or m/m romance researchers, writers, and/or fans! Or, heck, we can talk steampunk or horror, too … don’t hesitate to drop by and say hello!
I just received my author’s copies of Das mechanische herz, the German-language edition of Clockwork Heart. It’s incredible, seeing my first novel translated into another language; I’d dreamed about writing a fantasy novel ever since I was a child, and seeing Clockwork Heart in print was the realization of that dream. However, I never dreamed [...]
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My Lovecraftian Regency romance story “To Every Thing There is a Season” can be found in Apexology: Horror, the first ebook from Apex Book Company. It’s only US$2.99, so pick up a copy and get to know all of us Apex authors! 
drupagliassotti @ August 20, 2010
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Yesterday I mentioned that commodification is a form of sympathetic magic. That is, telling someone that if they buy designer clothes they will be considered as desirable as the celebrities who normally sport the stuff is akin to telling someone that if they put on a wolfskin belt by the light of the moon they’ll turn into a werewolf. I want to draw this out a little bit more, but this time with an eye toward how a similar form magical thinking can arise within the organization, voluntary simplicity, and minimalism movements.
I’ve written before about the the magic of ownership, where I pointed out that possessions can be perceived as performing a sort of sympathetic magic: that is, owning the symbols of a certain lifestyle, social class, profession, or pursuit is thought to somehow bring that lifestyle, class, profession or pursuit into our lives. Possessions can be perceived as acting as a magical or symbolic extension of ourselves, a visible representation to others of parts of our identity that we want to show to the world. Possessions are also “memory-laden objects,” that, through sympathetic magic, bond us to better times, powerful people, or the support of our ancestors.
Advertising has strengthened the magical appeal of possessions. Its message is “This object will grant you powers you didn’t have before you purchased it.” This liquor, this car, this suit, this cologne will attract women. This purse, this lipstick, this dress, this perfume will attract men. This computer will make you smarter. This antibacterial spray will make your children healthier. This music will make you part of the in-crowd. This wolfskin belt will turn you into a wolf.
These messages promote a form of magical thinking. Magical thinking is a form of “causal reasoning that looks for correlation between acts or utterances and certain events,” according to Wikipedia. With regard to advertising, magical thinking occurs when we believe, at some unacknowledged or subconscious level, that buying or owning something causes a desired event — or prevents an undesired event, in the case of such products as antibacterial sprays. Magical thinking is very powerful and can even have psychological merit, as in the case where belief in a placebo leads to an improvement in health.
This is the magic that professional organizers must confront when they’re trying to help people get rid of their clutter. How often have we watched or read a professional organizer intoning something along the lines of “remember, your mother’s teapot is not your mother”? They are fighting the power that the fundamental, often unacknowledged belief in sympathetic magic has over our minds. Sometimes their invocation of logic acts as a successful counterspell to the magic of material goods; sometimes it doesn’t.
In attempting to counteract advertising and consumerism, however, organization, voluntary simplicity, and minimalist efforts often offer a slightly different type of magical thinking. In this magical formula, a possession is not associated with something positive, but with something negative. Often-repeated phrases in the movements include “Clearing space will clear your mind,” or “owning less stuff will mean having more time.”
The phrases are backed up with explanations, of course, such as arguments that possessions are distractions, cost time and money to purchase and maintain. But it is the magical formula “possessions = problems” that many people are likely to internalize, just as others have internalized the message, for example, that “diamonds = love” or “luxury cars = social status.”
“Remember, no matter where you go, there you are”. — Buckaroo Banzai
This originally Confucian concept points out that it doesn’t matter how we may change our material world — by moving ourselves to a new place, by gaining or shedding possessions, by hanging crystals in our windows — ultimately, we are what is in our heads. And if what’s in our head is worried, nervous, stressful, antagonistic, pessimistic, or otherwise unpleasant, it will still be there no matter what physical changes we make to our environment. What needs to be worked on is our Selves.
The great majority of those who write about professional organization, voluntary simplicity, or minimalism know this, and they talk as much about making changes in thinking patterns as they do about making changes in the environment. I expect, however, that this deeper message often gets forgotten or ignored by the people they’re working with. We humans tend to be impatient sorts, and our penchant for magical thinking tends to lead to simplified understandings of complex messages. The formula “possessions = problems” is very simple and easy to adopt. Getting rid of material objects is much easier than changing deeply ingrained patterns of thought.
How many people have frantically jettisoned their belongings in the belief if they can only get their possessions down below some arbitrary number, their lives will get better? How many have prowled restlessly around their houses when they’re feeling tense or stressed out, cleaning and organizing and decluttering as if those assertions of control over their environments will somehow also impose control over their emotions? How many set off on vacations or sabbaticals hoping that a new environment will transform them into a different person? How many have desperately read advice book after advice book, as though the books themselves could somehow conjure up more money, a neater house, or a simpler life for them?
I have to admit, I’ve certainly done a few of these things. I’m as prone to magical thinking as anybody else.
In the best of situations, behavioral changes do lead to psychological changes. Placebos stop the pain, diamonds affirm love, and uncluttering helps a person relax. What is important for us to remember is that in these cases, the effect is not caused by the object or its removal. The effect is caused by the changes in one’s mental state that are triggered as a result of taking, buying, or decluttering that object. The object or action doesn’t cause the effect; it is only correlated with the effect. Object/action > change in mental state > emotional or physical change.
Magical thinking is very powerful and can be used in very beneficial ways. However, on those days that you find that your possessions or open spaces or rituals aren’t changing your life for the better, remember that it’s not the possession, open space, or ritual that does the work. It’s your mode of thinking. The real work of organizing, simplifying, and minimizing must go on inside of your head.
Photo credit: Brunosub
drupagliassotti @ August 17, 2010
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Unclutterer wryly pointed out the commodification of voluntary simplicity going on in tandem with the release of the movie Eat Pray Love. I appreciated this post, because I’ve talked about the power of the consumerist ideology in a few of my classes ever since the release of the magazine Real Simple ten years ago. Real Simple: a commodity about simplifying your life that’s chock-full of advertisements for more commodities that you can buy to simplify your life…..
Consumerism is a powerful ideology precisely because it seems capable of taking every counterideological stance people might choose to assume and selling it right back to them. After all, what’s a revolution without buttons and tee-shirts?
Not that voluntary simplicity is the same thing as anti-consumerism, but they often go hand-in-hand; avoiding the accumulation of more Stuff is one of several ways people choose to voluntarily simplify their lives. And I think we’re just starting to see the same “commodification creep” with the minimalist movement, which ought to be the ultimate in anti-consumerist ideologies. But, still … as minimalism becomes more popular, the number of related commodities available for consumption begins to grow, whether books, convertible furniture, tiny houses, seminars, or whatever. Right now the social movement is still relatively nascent, and I am certain that the creators of these commodities are truly sincere. They just want to spread the word and make things easier for like-minded practitioners. That’s always the case in a social movement, right? And no doubt some of these commodities are good investments; I’ve bought a few books on the subject, myself, although they’ve long since been donated to the library. And it’s hard to see how moving to a tiny house would be bad for the movement. (Although maybe if it were your second home, you’d be defeating the purpose!)
But how long will it be until one of the global media giants starts publishing Minimalist magazine, do you think? And people buy it because they figure they can’t be minimalist unless they own a lot of minimalist Stuff. Ten years from now, will there be as many minimalism-related commodities for sale as there are simplification-related commodities today? I’d hate to think so, but consumerism is a clever ideology, capable of turning any counterideological movement into purchasable books, magazines, tee-shirts, greeting cards, bumper stickers, and self-help seminars. For every earnest individual out there offering advice and assistance for free, or priced to cover cost, there seem to be a dozen corporations hoping to make a profit.
Buying and owning things isn’t the problem; very few of us are or ever could be completely self-sustainable. The problem arises when people start to think that buying commodities about a movement automatically makes them part of the movement, and unscrupulous companies cash in on that mistake. You’re not a feminist just because you choose to smoke Virginia Slims. Or a metalhead because you bought a vintage AC/DC tee-shirt. And your life won’t necessarily be simplified because you signed up for an Eat Pray Love tour (does such a thing exist? Probably. Or it will soon!) But that’s the kind of sympathetic magic that consumerism promises. It conflates an idea with an object. It promises automatic membership in a group via the purchase of specific symbols associated with the group. A lifestyle that costs money instead of time, effort, and thought. A modern version of the belief that wearing a wolfskin belt will help you to turn yourself into a wolf….
Of course, it’s always possible that the minimalist movement will sputter out as soon as the Great Recession is over. But I’m going to take a leap of faith and guess that it and voluntary simplicity will continue as fairly niche but long-lasting lifestyle choices. After all, life isn’t getting any less complex or commodified, is it?
Photo credit: Dleafy
drupagliassotti @ August 16, 2010