#experientialism

[tiny-house-living-blog1]

How to retire in your 30s: save most of your money and rethink your core values

We asked people who retired before 40 how they did it. They all said it's about profoundly changing how you see the world.

This is a really interesting article for anyone interested in minimalism, experientialism or generally breaking out of the 9-5 grind.

[experientialisms-blog]

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[imanatasya]

Before Minimalism: Scarcity & Materialism

This the 2nd of a series of posts with regards to going beyond minimalism.

Before we had this movement of people having to declutter or do spring cleaning, there was a time where people simply did not have enough*. Everything which was within a household was purposefully bought and used, and if people needed an item but did not have it, they would go over to their neighbours to borrow whichever item this was. 

My nenek (grandma), lived in this age, as did my parents to a certain extent. But I see this most in my nenek, because everything she owns till today, she mentally notes its price. Its amazing how its all in her head, she being illiterate, and although, I may never know if the prices are true, it clearly showed that there was a lot of value attached to each and every item. 

People were frugal, and necessarily so.

These days, many of us, in the age of materialism, where we are able to afford basic household items, but beyond that, are able to splurge on expensive clothes or cars; people are having too much. Not everything within a household is necessarily there because it is used on the regular. In fact many of the items we own end up being stored in the storeroom, collecting dust and adding up to the clutter. 

For me, it got to the point, where I had too may pieces of clothes that I couldn’t “find” anything to wear, so eventually I’d usually end up using my mom’s cloths (we’re the same size, and her taste is pretty contemporary, if you’re wondering), because I “didn’t have anything,” to wear. On top of that it was pretty ridiculous, the amount of time, I would spent dressing up. When I finally realised this, I felt excessive. 

We weren’t being frugal anymore, we were excessive. 

Yet, it is encouraging that there is a movement away from materialism as seen in many of the first world nations. Many of us are realising, that there is little value in attaching our happiness to these tangible objects. People feel like they have enough, or rather they’ve had enough (of things) 

Some go back to the basics, purging modern life entirely. Some go back to being frugal. And some others, decide to embrace a middle ground between modern life and frugality. (I’m in that last gang)

Overall however, the common ground for these groups of people is that they have chosen not to spend their money carelessly on things. They, and some of us included, have become the anti-materialists. 

To be continued..

*I’m writing in a 1st world context

[imanatasya]

Beyond Minimalism: Experientialism

For a while now, I have been reading on minimalism. The idea of getting rid of clutter, of simplifying. But then, it also made me think, what next? What was the purpose of doing this, to simplify. We weren’t all made to live like monks. Even the monks would say so, I’m certain. 

And I realised then, that minimalism, is really just a baseline of sorts. It sets the foundations for you, so that you are rid of clutter, physically, mentally and spiritually so you can experience life. 

For example:

1. M: We rid the junk food to be healthy -> E: Being healthy, allows us to run a marathon or climb a mountain

2. M: We rid time spent on social media -> E: We socialize in real life, meet new people and establish real relationships

3. M: We rid our judgements on others, and ourselves -> E: We become unafraid, not inhibited, and we are able to truly pursue what we want. 

Away with materialism, in with experientialism. These days, more and more of us are catching on to the trend. Gone are the days where owning a Longchamp bag was enviable, these days, its about who’s picnicked at Laneway, who’s had a sneak peek in the National Gallery or who has walked over to Coney Island. It’s not about the things we own, its about the things we do. 

There’s so much I want to write about this, because it truly excites me, but I will stop here for now, because as far as possible, I would like to write it in a concised manner. 

In any case, a lot of these thoughts, were sparked from a book called Stuffocation, that I’ve been reading the past two days I was stuck in bed with my fever. Have a read! I would really recommend it.

Lots of Love,

Nart

[exotericenvironmentalism]

A recent article in the Guardian 'Spend less on stuff, more on experiences' by James Wallman discuses the ideas of 'experientialism'- finding happiness in experiences rather than material things: 

'Experientialism, I think, is the opportunity of our era. Just as materialism and the consumer revolution transformed standards of living in the 20th century, so I believe experientialism and an “experience revolution” can transform quality of life in the 21st century.

If we all – people, politicians, business – embrace this idea, we’ll lead better, happier, more sustainable lives on a less damaged planet. The advances in quality of life that this will bring might sound, today at least, like wishful thinking: less stuff, less stress, less work, more enjoyable work, longer holidays, a shorter working week. Because who decided that five days on, two days off, and four weeks holiday a year should be the peak of human achievement?

If that sounds like crazy talk, think how today’s world would have sounded to someone a few generations back. Would someone in 1915 have believed that one of the greatest worries for most people isn’t finding enough food to feed the family, but there being so much food that we have the obesity epidemic? Could she have imagined a map that not only knows where you are but can tell you where to go next? If material, standard-of-living leaps like these were possible in the 20th century, why aren’t experiential, quality-of-life breakthroughs also likely in this century?'

For me, cycling the roads of Scotland's countryside is my primary form of 'experientialism' (which I then furthermore enhance by taking photos of some of the natural and cultural attractions I visit, and uploading to my cycling blog). In the last couple of years that I have been doing this I feel I have gained more enjoyment, and over a sustained period, than many other material purchases I have previously made (which, I realise I seem to make far fewer of nowadays)- and, in doing so, increased my appreciation of how beautiful the natural landscape of my country is.

[malcsawyer]

What we call education and culture is for the most part nothing but the substitution of reading for experience, of literature for life, of the obsolete fictitious for the contemporary real.

George Bernard Shaw

[intermulti]

Assignment #5, Susan S. 1

“According to experientialism, we use our direct, concrete, physical knowledge of our own bodies as a basis for understanding the world around us; our knowledge of the world is thus embodied.”

Straus, “Disability within Music-Theoretical Traditions” (106)

Joseph Straus places the above quote on the fourth page of his 22-page chapter. Falling under the second subheading, “Some Embodied Metaphors of Music Theory,” this sentence explains a central tenet of the experientialist movement associated with “the concept of embodiment” (106). Straus explains in the previous paragraph how music theorists have adapted this concept to their field. He then proceeds to present, in the rest of his chapter, a thorough and extensively annotated discussion of how the metaphors used to describe musical form refer to bodies, whether presumed normative or marked disabled (107-08). The pages that immediately follow the selected quotation analyze these “cluster[ed]” metaphors, called “image-schemas” until, on pages 108-09, Straus plainly lays out the content for the remainder of his chapter: three types of image-schema appearing in theoretical traditions that utilize the idea of disability in order to discuss music.