the Humanist view

Minimalist living for me heralds peace of mind.

The privilege not to be bogged down with discomforting conversations that often degrade quality of life.

Conversations that have people obsessed with equating ‘development’ and or improved quality of life to material possessions.

Allowing politicians to get away with quoting questionable statistics, for example, gross domestic product (GDP), as a measure of success.

When in reality, GDP is not the best way to measure the kind of quality of life I desire, my ideal life in which I feel I am free to be fully part of our society.

My Ideal Life … CLICK HERE to read about it some.

The feeling that I am free to contribute ideas and that my ideas are heard, valued and welcome.

I thrive in arena of ideas exchange and debate.

It is the reason I subscribe to the school of thought that prioritizes freedom of press and media as a measure of success.

“None of our irritations with the perceived inadequacies of the media should ever allow us to suggest even faintly that the independence of the press could be compromised or coerced. A bad press is preferable to a technically good, subservient press.”

These words of wisdom credited to former presider of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, I identify with fully.

I despair with the quality and level of debate current in the press in media, especially social media, which obsesses with material possessions.

But at the end of the day, I am able to find within the voice which prioritizes personal growth, human development, over and above the material.

Material possessions are good to the extent that they enable a happy life of truly being a part of the conversation.

I don’t perceive minimalism as ‘intentional poverty’ as it is sometimes referred to.

If you are happy with the minimal material possession you have, you are the richer than those who have a lot of material possessions, but are unhappy still.

And so for me, part of my happiness is having the material possessions that allow me to have access to WordPress and to blog!