Whenever I think of the culture of sufficiency I remember my great aunts who always lived by the principle of voluntary frugality (without, of course, naming it as such). They made their own clothes, cut their hair short and wore it in a bun, never overindulged in food or drink, always had time for human relations and for taking care of you. And they always feel happy in a placid style.
Yes, similarly I think of my grand parents who were spend thrifts. They had lived through scarcity during the year of WWII and didn't like to waste things. They had the same carpet, bed, bed linen and furniture for their whole lives. My Grandma was constantly telling me how lucky she was, despite living in a very modest lifestyle in a very modest home. I think there's something really beautiful about that.
Perhaps what we need to do is to make an intersection between a universal basic welfare that our ancestors did not experience and we don't want to live without (washing machine for instance) and to recover frugal habits in all that is not really important in life (to paraphrase Kennedy's famous speech on GDP) and we can learn to share and do more with less (the washing machine for instance!).
Whenever I think of the culture of sufficiency I remember my great aunts who always lived by the principle of voluntary frugality (without, of course, naming it as such). They made their own clothes, cut their hair short and wore it in a bun, never overindulged in food or drink, always had time for human relations and for taking care of you. And they always feel happy in a placid style.
Yes, similarly I think of my grand parents who were spend thrifts. They had lived through scarcity during the year of WWII and didn't like to waste things. They had the same carpet, bed, bed linen and furniture for their whole lives. My Grandma was constantly telling me how lucky she was, despite living in a very modest lifestyle in a very modest home. I think there's something really beautiful about that.
Perhaps what we need to do is to make an intersection between a universal basic welfare that our ancestors did not experience and we don't want to live without (washing machine for instance) and to recover frugal habits in all that is not really important in life (to paraphrase Kennedy's famous speech on GDP) and we can learn to share and do more with less (the washing machine for instance!).
Beautifully said!
I think the move towards minimalism is a natural effect of feeling overwhelmed by too much stuff, stress, responsibilities, etc.
We'll need to point people in that direction.