For me, it all started over at Digitized where David Pierce, in his post Minimalism vs. Lessism makes some good points about what he calls “lessism” and true minimalism and, for what it’s worth, I think he’s right on the money.

Some didn’t take David’s point’s too kindly (like these three comments, btw, didn’t he say it was a rant? and didn’t Leo interact with him?  don’t people read things before commenting?) and in so doing demonstrated that many readers confuse any negative interaction with hatred and arrogance.

I, for one, appreciated the interaction between Leo and David in the comments.  They made their points directly and focused on the ideas rather than personalities.  That is a good thing despite what some commentors thought.

Leo, to his credit, thought about David’s points and has responded appropriately here.

Steve Pavlina also interacts with this notion in terms of stroking one’s ego though I do get the impression that he is denigrating it rather than genuinely interacting with it.  He still raises good points.

Charley Forness also interacts with this Lessism in the form of a rant (his own admission) but he is humorous and that takes the sting out of it nicely.  (Who likes doing dishes, anyway?)

FWIW, I think David hit the nail on the head: what’s the point of minimizing if it hinders you from doing what needs to be done?  I don’t think we should go back to the stone age.

Stick to the middle way.  Minimize so you’re not a victim of consumerism but don’t become anti-consumption.  Cut out unnecessary waste and teach your children and those around you to do the same.  Think about the environment and help the environment but don’t worship the environment.  Take the best of what our culture and technological advancement has to offer and use it without being owned by it.

If to you that means living with less than fifty things, then go for it (although I like Everett’s notion of not being a slave to the corporate world).  Feel free to make the case for it as much as you want.  But don’t hold all of us to that same standard.

Here’s a 45 minute-long live recording of a master class session I did last week in New York. No slides, no script, just a riff.

Seth also gives the following permission: “Feel free to post in other places to cut down on the bandwidth bottleneck.” I will do so here. Click here to download:

Download LinchpinSessionSethGodinApril