The modern minimalist movement aims to counteract consumerist culture, foster mindfulness, and regain space, silence, and intentionality. Many people today feel that their lives are cluttered with stuff, noise, and busyness. They seek a more meaningful existence based on a greater simplicity, shedding something of modern life’s hectic pace, stripping away the excess weight encrusting life so that we can focus on what really matters.
A flurry of books have flown off the press purporting to show people how to live more fully by embracing less. One such book was Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” which sold more than 10 million copies. Yet, as Heidi Deddens pointed out in an article for Comment Magazine, the Japanese art Kondo described is about more than just a tidier home.
