Exclusion from the group has always been life's lot for deviants, misfits, rogues, and creatives [see photo]. The reason for their exclusion has usually been the same - they refuse to buckle to the power of "group think" which so often shapes social behaviours and beliefs.
As an excluded individual one discovers that "we are what we think and what we say" more than "what we do and what we believe in". Indeed if one is excluded from social entities this is because he or she refuses to think like those who set the rules for "group think". Thus any form of involuntary exclusion can become a burden, or a badge of honour, for those who find themselves on the outside looking in. Most onlookers are tagged as "one of them" which simply means they are not "one of us". Of course being "one of us" provides an individual with a very fluid identity because the rules of acceptance can, and do, change quickly. One can feel very comfortable as "one of us"until they wake one day to discover they have been cancelled and become "one of them".
Minimalists pride themselves on being "one of them" rather than "one of us". In practical terms this means they are independent beings who decide their own fate based personal needs not on the shifting sands of other people's wants. For example a minimalist may decide that he or she will [or will not] be vaccinated, wear [or not wear] a mask, believe [or not believe] in "the greater good", accept [or reject] victim status as a badge of honour, and so on and so on.
A minimalist is often excluded from his or her tribe. In most cases he or she simply drifts away into isolation. He or she becomes adept at retaining loose social ties to the collective, Clique, tribe, virtuous union, homogeneous whole, etc. Thus he or she is often cast as an isolate in a crowd. In fact he or she prefers to join "coalitions of interest" based on "trust" not on "rules". He or she prefers to cooperate with others not to collaborate with them. He or she prefers to welcome misfits, deviants, rogues, etc into their cooperatives because they have a high degree of tolerance for difference. Finally... He or she forms a culture of one which survives, and thrives, inside the exclusion zone for the culture of the many.
Richard.
My mind as a minimalist is developed on a unique sense of what I call minimal-you which, in turn, is based on individual needs not collective wants. For instruction on how to establish your sense of you: go to minimal-you.com and hit the "become a minimalist" button in the banner heading. This will take you to a payment scheme for a 10 day programme that will teach you how to design, enforce, and live with mind filters: these help you to be the best person you can be.
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