11-02-25 Minimalism
I've been thinking a lot recently about self-realisation, and what is required from me to achieve that.
I have feelings, thoughts, and activities that I deeply value but often fail to live a life that is in alignment with the things I care about. Something I like to dwell on is Aristotle's virtue ethics as a sort of self-actualisation. The idea is that humans have a unique potential, for Aristotle this is their rational capacity, and to live a virtuous life we must habitually act with the right amount of rational capacity. Much in the same way a musician acts in a way that expresses good musicianship, a good and virtuous person habituallty acts in ways that are good and rational. To do this consistently is hard, and is even harder when plagued with mental illnesses. Something that helps me is removing as much friction myself and the things that are important to me, so that I can spend what amount of willpower I have not cleaning or preparing but instead doing the important stuff. That means removing things from my life that aren't totally neccessary. Despite my disdain for modern self-help content, writers like Cal Newport have valuable ideas here. Things like, how can I make my space, my computer, my kitchen, etc. work for me and not against me. Minimalism isn't something generally explored in actual philosophy literature either, though I suppose the Stoics and the Cynics have similar thinking patterns, as well as Henry David Thoreau. Something I appreciate from these works is a return of using philosophy to describe ways of living, rather than solving problems. Thoreau agrees with me that flourishing means to align oneself with one's ideals.
Over the coming weeks I'm going to get rid of at least half of everything I own in anticipation that this will help me better achieve my goals (also in anticipation for my trip coming trip to Asia). Hoping this will elimiate some common friction points for me: mindless scrolling, porn, TV, gaming, binge eating, untidy living areas, unorganised schedules, etc. At the very least I'm certain I'll be generally less irritable in an environment that has less. If I expect to get anything done I at least need a stable and calm living and working environment.