Hi and welcome to The Stoic Minimalist.

The aim of this website is to inspire more people to adopt what I call “Stoic Minimalist” values. Approximately 8 billion people currently call this Earth home. If every single person either aims, or happens by chance, to act in a “maximalist” fashion, then future generations may not have the same privileges we often take for granted.

Stoic Minimalism is a term I have deliberated on, and feel like it encompasses the majority of what I hope to write about in due time. A brief dissection of the two components, seen through my lense:

Stoicism

This ancient school of philosophy gives an exceedingly simple framework for leading a good life. Founded on the virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice, this philosophy – when stripped to its essentials – awakens the desire to seek virtue for virtue’s sake. Truth, when laid bare out on a table, should be put to the ultimate test – for me, thus far in my life, I have found Stoicism to hold against such scrutiny. Therefore, I use it as a foundation every day of my life.

Minimalism

Minimalism, on the other hand, gives us the tools and methods to carry out our material and digital existence practically, in a world plagued with materialism, consumerism and distraction. Not only do we humans, for some reason or another, seem to have a desire for more, newer, bigger, better, and faster things and media, but we seem, at least for me, to often forego appreciation of what we do have. We should therefore aim to slow down, and appreciate what we do have in our lives – avoiding to overcrowd it with inessentials.

A Definition of Stoic Minimalism

Based on these two background concepts, a definition for Stoic Minimalism may read:

“A philosophy of life with an aim at living virtuously, through sound mind and judgement, and through appropriate and appreciative use of our physical and digital tools available to us.”

I concede that the term Stoic Minimalism, and the corresponding definition, are far from perfect and may be further improved upon as experience sees fit. At the moment, I believe the merging of these two terms encompass, at the very least, the majority of principles and values on which I currently build my life. I hope this may hold value for you too.

So, “The Stoic Minimalist” has thus started. Thank you for reading – until next time!