What is Minimalism? The Philosophy, The Trend, and The Silent Truth

Before descending deep into the cave of minimalism, let us break down the term, minimalism. The word minimalism consists of two parts: “Minimal” and “ism”. ‘Minimal’ simply means very little, and ‘ism’ denotes an ideology, belief, or philosophy.

In very simple words, it is an ideology that asks its followers to cast aside everything unnecessary. In other words, it appreciates the usage of little things that are required and essential.

Sounds quite austere, right?

Wait, do not judge too quickly. You have only seen one side of the coin.

Minimalism Equals Merriment

Minimalism can be defined in more than one way. It abides by many rules, yet no rules.

It strives for your vitality and exuberance. It wants you to remain happy and carefree. It asks for contentment, as well. It simply gives rise to freedom.

Confusing?

Hardly!

Imagine that you want to travel, what would you pack? Of course, just a few necessities. With less burden to carry, you will enjoy your vacations more.

Now project this to real life. You have fewer things, but you have all that you need.

You need a car, you have bought it, and it is saving you time and helping your family.  You yearn for a new pair of shoes, but you do not need one. Anyway, you buy one, and after some time, guilt starts to mount up. So, the pair of shoes did not bring happiness to your life.

Minimalism says that having those things that you need and you will be happy and free to go.

When it comes to the aesthetic aspects, minimalism is in the game, and people are going crazy. Influencers worship minimalism and preach minimalism with awe-inspiring and astonishing home decor.

But how did it begin?

Let’a take a look! 

Phase 1: The “OG” Rebels (Ancient Times – 1800s)

• The Philosophers: Long before Instagram or TikTok, the Greek philosopher Diogenes was spending his life in a large ceramic jar in Athens. He owned a cup, watched a boy drinking from his hands, and smashed his cup. He realized he didn’t need it. That is hardcore minimalism.

• The Zen Masters: Meanwhile, Zen Buddhism in Japan was focusing on perfecting the art of “Ma” (negative space). They preached that emptiness wasn’t a lack of something, but a place for clarity.

• Henry David Thoreau (1845): Now, fast forward to America. Thoreau got sick of such a society, constructed a tiny cabin by Walden Pond, and penned down the original decluttering manifesto. He said,

“Our life is frittered away by detail…Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let our affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand…Simplify, simplify!”

Phase 2: The “Less is More” Era (1920s – 1960s)

• The Architects (1920s): The Bauhaus School in Germany reversed everything. Architects, like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, popularized the phrase “Less is more.” They throw away the fancy Victorian decorations and prioritize clean lines and function.

• The Art Scene (1960s): This is where the actual word “Minimalism” originates. Artists in New York (like Frank Stella and Donald Judd) started making art that didn’t “represent” or symbolize anything. It was simply a white square or a steel box. And it was a rebellion against the emotional and messy art of the time.

Phase 3: The Great Stuffover (1980s – 2008)

• Peak Stuff: The 80s and 90s were the contrary to minimalism. It was the time of “He who dies with the most toys/stuff wins.” McMansions, credit card debt, and massive walk-in closets became the household dream.

• The Crash (2008): Then, the Global Financial Crisis hit. All of a sudden, the “American Dream” of owning everything backfired. People lost their homes and learned that having a lot of things didn’t mean you were safe. A quiet movement began brewing online: maybe owning less was actually safer and healthier.

Phase 4: The Blogosphere Boom (2009 – 2014)

• The Pioneers: Authors like Leo Babauta (Zen Habits) and Joshua Becker (Becoming Minimalist) began blogging about simple living. They moved minimalism from “art galleries” to “living rooms.”

• The Duo: Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn (The Minimalists) launched their site in 2010. They wore black t-shirts, shrank their lives into boxes, and made minimalism look young, cool, and attainable.

Phase 5: The Mainstream Explosion (2015 – Today)

• The Magic of Tidying Up: Then, in 2014/2015, Marie Kondo dropped a bomb on the world. She wasn’t a “minimalist” in the strict sense, but her question, “Does it spark joy?” let millions of people throw things away.

• The Netflix Effect: Minimalism hit the big screen. Documentaries showed empty white rooms and happy people. It shifted from a radical lifestyle to a trendy aesthetic.

• Today: Today, minimalism has splintered. You have Digital Minimalists (focused on phone addiction, like Cal Newport), Eco-Minimalists (focused on waste), and then Aesthetic Minimalists (who just want a beige or a white living room).

What is a Minimalist Person?

Now you know what is minimalism and how it evolved. Now, take a look at what a minimalist person is?

You may think a minimalist person is just someone who lives in an empty white or beige room and owns exactly one spoon, fork, and plate. But that’s downright boring stereotype.

Real minimalism isn’t about deprivation; it’s about curation. A minimalist is simply a person who knows what they want and how much. They have decided that their peace of mind is worth more than any clutter. They’ve swapped the mindset of “having it all” for the liberty of having “just enough,” opting to chase purpose, value, and experiences instead of the next Amazon delivery.

They believe that minimalism is not about having nothing; it’s about throwing out all the junk to make room for the stuff that actually matters.

Is Minimalism a Fad?

Well… some believe that it is just like every other trend. Moreover, it will be gone.

Why does minimalism feel like a fad, then?

We consume social media, browse the Internet, and follow influencers who have made the concept of minimalism more common and digestible. For example, you see celebs showing you a minimalistic lifestyle on platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest, the clean and a few items adorned beautifully make it look more like an aesthetic stage rather than a true lifestyle.

Then we have streaming platforms giving spotlights to this trend through their settings… Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things and The Minimalists: Less Is Now is a documentary dedicated to minimalsit trend.

When we talk about promoting, brands cannot stay away from the chat. Now, you see brands that know how to monetize minimalism. “Less is more” is now seen as elite and sells expensive. The brands associate high-quality (basics and ethical) sourced goods with minimalist values.

So, you find this ideology more of a marketing tool associated with class structure rather than a lifestyle choice.

The Good Stuff (Why People Do It)

• Your wallet gets a break: The biggest advantage of minilamsim is perhaps that when you stop buying things to impress people or follow fleeting trends you don’t like, you suddenly have enough cash for stuff you actually love, such as good food or travel.

• Freedom from the “Saturday Clean”: Less stuff means less is there to dust, organize, and put away. Plus, you get your weekends back as you aren’t managing a plethora of possessions.

• Brain fog clears up: It sounds quite fake, but it’s true. Visual clutter leads to mental noise. When your place is calm and clutter-free, your brain stops buzzing, and you can actually focus on what matters, your work, or your Netflix binge without guilt.

• You become more portable: If you get a sudden desire to travel for a month or move to a new city, you can just… go. You aren’t chained down by twenty boxes of “maybe someday” stuff.

• You stop hiding from yourself: Let’s be true for a while: sometimes we see clutter as a security blanket. If you’re constantly busy cleaning, hunting for lost keys, or organizing boxes, you don’t have time to sit with yourself peacefully and ask, Am I actually happy? It’s more of a convenient noise. When you get rid of the physical mess, the silence gets louder and louder. It’s terrifying at first, but it compels you to face your real life, and that’s the only way to actually fix it.

• You realize you are enough: This is the big one! Consumer culture keeps telling us, “You will be cool/happy/lovable IF you buy this thing.” When you stop that buying, you break that cycle. You know that you…just as you are, without the massive wardrobe or fancy gadgets, are complete and happy. You don’t look for validation in a shopping cart.

The Not-So-Good Stuff (The Reality Check)

• The “Oops” moment: There is a risk of over-purging. Eventually, you will throw away something (like that one specific cable) and realize three weeks later that you actually needed it.

• It can become a competition: Some people take minimalism as a challenge or a sport where they count their stuff only to feel superior. If you find yourself judging your friends for owning too many mugs, you’ve successfully missed the point and become the annoying “minimalist snob.”

The Hidden Cost: Your Stuff is a Silent To-Do List

We are habitual of measuring the cost of our possessions in cents and dollars. We remember exactly how much we paid for that stack of books or that armchair. However, there is a second price tag attached to every single thing you bring into your home, place on your shelf, or keep in your wardrobe, a currency you pay out each day without realizing it: your mental energy.

Okay, let me explain with the help of an example: Have you ever walked into your house or room after a long, busy day, hoping to relax, but instead felt extreme exhaustion?

Well, it isn’t just the air quality or lighting. It is the noise. Not the audible kind, but the visual kind.

So, sit in your living room for a moment and look around really. You may think you are seeing furniture, a few decorative items, and trinkets, but your subconscious brain is noting something very different. It sees a huge list of commands.

See, objects are rarely passive, although we may perceive so. They are needy. Every object in your visual field transfers a silent signal to your brain, looking for attention and action:

• The huge pile of mail on the counter is screaming, “Sort me.”

• The dusty vase on the shelf is telling you, “Clean me.”

• The guitar in the corner that you haven’t played in months or maybe for years is judging you, asking, “Why haven’t you practiced? You made a promise to learn.”

Even if you actively and religiously overlook these objects, your brain does not. Psychologists call this Cognitive Load. Know that your brain is a biological processing machine, and each visual stimulus (in any form) needs a unit of energy to process. When your surrounding is cluttered and messy, your brain is running forty background apps at once. It drains your battery before you’ve even had a chance to begin your day.

This results in a low-level hum of anxiety that never truly fades away. It is the mental equivalent of having dust on your shoe: you can walk, but it’s always there, asking for your attention.

This phenomenon is also connected to a psychological concept known as the Zeigarnik Effect, which also states that our brains obsessively hold onto unfinished and incomplete tasks while easily forgetting the completed ones. Clutter is a physical manifestation of this very effect. Every broken gadget and every unread book is an “open loop” that your mind doesn’t want to close, keeping you in a state of lasting alertness.

Soul Script: The Museum of Me

Let’s talk about the hard stuff now. It is not the obvious trash, like broken staplers or old receipts. I’m talking about the stuff that makes your chest tight when you think of letting it go. The movie ticket from a first date…The seashell from a memorable vacation seven years ago. The (a bit) creepy little porcelain doll your grandmother gifted you.

Decluttering this stuff rarely feels like cleaning, does it?

It is a betrayal.

Why?

Because we’ve unknowingly changed our homes into museums. We act like curators of our own history and life, terrified that if we let this physical object go, we’re deleting the moment it symbolizes.

Now think about that dried flower you’ve kept pressed in a diary or book for years. To a stranger, it’s just a dead flower. But to you?

It’s similar to a time machine. It’s that specific rainy Tuesday. It’s the way their laugh sounded. It’s proof that you were young, and you were there, and you were loved and wanted.

We want to keep these things because we’re very scared. We’re scared that our memories are very delicate, slipping through our fingers like sand. We think that without the physical proof, without the “exhibit,” the experience vanishes. We think that if we let go of these objects, we are throwing away our past.

But here is the reality: We are not a museum, and we don’t need an archive to prove you existed.

Your memories are not only in dusty trinkets or cardboard boxes. They are in your personality, your DNA, and the way you see the world. You remember that afternoon not because of the flower or letter, but because it transformed you.

Real minimalism isn’t about erasing your history. It’s about learning to trust yourself enough to know that your life happened, even if you don’t have the receipt as evidence.

You are the story!

Why Minimalism is the Answer to Consumerism!

Consumerism is created to keep you hungry. It sells you the lie that you’re incomplete, not enough, and that the “real you” is just one credit card swipe away. But this finish line keeps moving.

Minimalism, I think, is the only way to flip the coin and quit the game. It’s an act of rebellion that says, “I am already enough.” “I don’t need stuff to feel complete.”

Is Minimalism a Fad or Here to Stay?

And Your Point Is!

Well, these are the times when everywhere discontentment, anxiety, and inferiority complexes rule, and most people want to get everything by any means.

That’s why I think minimalism is not just a craze. It has become a church with bloggers and influencers as its preachers.

They not only preach but also make sure that they get some converts in every meeting. The fad is turning into a permanent fashion choice and a lifestyle choice.

Suffice it to say that the future of millennialism is long-lasting, and it will be more active in the near future. With a growing maximalist lifestyle and luxurious fashion sense, showing off is becoming more common.

In such times, a messiah in the guise of minimalism promotes peace, contentment, and gratitude. And this messiah is here to stay !!!

“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.”

-Joshua Becker, Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life