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Why is minimality desirable?

By moving towards minimalism, we lose comfort, and we gain freedom and peace of mind.

For people who do not have particularly favorable material conditions, reconciling satisfying their minimum needs and maintaining a satisfactory life ethic is not easy.

For people who live in material opulence, the danger is getting used to it.

Taming minimalism

A good way to train for minimalism is to practice an activity such as hiking over several days.

The limits of minimalism

The goal is not to always go further in terms of minimality, but to find your point of personal comfort, ie the point below which, despite training, you do not get used to it.

Let's go back to the example of hiking. On the other hand, once you get rid of what was not so useful, and reach the point where the weight of the backpack is no longer an issue, there is little reason to go further,

Importance of an approach towards minimality

Take the example of priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church. By specifying that priests take a vow of celibacy, instead of specifying an approach towards the minimum of private relationships in order to be able to devote themselves better to their community, the Church rigidly fixes the level to be reached, and therefore does not manage to Conversely, if the church simply authorized priests to marry, as in the reformed church, it would not completely solve the problem by no longer emphasizing the objective of minimality.

Citations

Concernant les limites de la recherche de minimalité, en réaction aux philosophies épicuriennes et stoïciennes qui suggéraient que nous pouvons parvenir à maîtriser notre moi physique et passionné, de façon à n'être jamais dominé par lui, Montaigne rétorque que c'est là un noble conseil, qui flatte nos plus hautes aspirations. C'est aussi impossible, et donc contre-productif :
“What to do with these lofty points of philosophy on which no human being can settle down, and these rules which exceed our use and our strength?

Deepen

Consult the question 'What is impermanence?'.
Refer to the question 'How to make a success of your life', and more particularly the paragraph 'The feelings dimension - Epicurus - taming pleasure'.
More generally, familiarize yourself with Epicureanism, taking care not to confuse the ataraxic approach of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, with the aesthetic hedonism too often wrongly associated with the word Epicureanism.