Minimalists confront the puzzle of life based on a solid foundation of first principles.
The most pressing challenge of life for each of us is to complete the maze [see photo].
Some people join together to form a collective. Thus they seek to share the burdens of mundane life with others. They give and gain help along the way. For people who live this way their life is a noble cause that serves others as much as it does themselves. And so they curate their thoughts, habits, and beliefs in accordance with a general template that is laid out for them by their group, collective, or community.
The minimalist has a different framework for life. He or she decides on a pathway through the maze of life based on a set of personal needs that establish the context for mundane thoughts, habits, and beliefs. Sometimes these people will join the collective in pursuit of certain attainable goals and at others times they will pursuit their own set of objectives.
All that means is that the puzzle of life is very much the same for those who seek the comfort of the collective; but, strikingly different for those who strike out on their own as individuals.
This difference in approach to the puzzles of life is most evident in how an individual living within the group, and one existing outside it, treat the matter of risk-taking. It seems fair to assume that those in the collective will be risk averse in most situations. This is likely true because the very act of caucusing about issues will reduce the amount of risk that is willing to be shared by each individual in the group. This effect can be seen when individuals go along with what they know will prove to be a bad decision as a form of collective solidarity.
Meanwhile... The individuals who left this group last week, last month, or last year did so because they could no longer subscribe to the passive nature of risk assessment which became a daily occurrence within that group setting.
Minimalists adjust their risk taking to best fit their needs. They move their risk taking up, or down, a continuum of risk taking and risk aversion in accordance with their basic needs. At some stages they will strike a risk taking posture towards risk aversion that fits in neatly with the group; and so, they are comfortable with a consensual decision-making process. At other times they will move their risk taking profile way beyond the rational boundaries of the collective to the point where they become estranged from groups, communities, and orthodoxies.
When sameness prevails due to collective decision making dominance in government, corporates, communities, and households the minimalist will become an outsider who is destined to discover his or her own pathway through the puzzles of life.
Richard.
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