Something of Nothing
I've just finished listening to the Audible version of Kyle Chayka's book on living with minimalism called The Longing for Less.
The book connects the author's interest in the idea of reductionism with the ways in which people have activated it across time and place.
At times scholarly, at times conversational, TLfL reveals a universal preference for aesthetic simplicity through anecdotes of its many proponents. As the story unfolds, we meet philosophers, writers, artists, composers, architects, entrepreneurs ... all with an appreciation for the essential.
Chayka doesn’t follow a timeline, but a developmental thread is drawn from austere Stoics in the ancient world, to Zen Buddhist monks of the Kamakura period in Japan, to luxuriously spare mid-century modernist architects ... to the present day club.
Through the contemporary exemplars, the story is made relevant to bookbuyers. For example, Mari Kondo, thanking items for their service before deaccessioning them. And Julius Eastman, composing music that repeats so performers "stay on it". And Agnes Martin paintings that evoke the loneliness and quiet of the high dessert.
A further connection is made to a recent category of up-market consumerism, represented by the likes of (my list) Aman wellness resorts, Aesop personal care products and Eileen Fisher sustainable fashion.
Both selective and ambitious, many many names like these are referenced to reinforce the idea that minimalism surrounds us just as much as anything else does.
The book ends with the author traveling to Japan, seeking to explore and tie-in concepts like "mu" (無) and the somethingness of nothingness. *
His tour of Japanese thinkers and texts includes D. T. Suzuki on Zen Buddhism, Shuzo Kuki on the Structure of Iki, Keiji Nishitani on flower arranging, Okakura Kakuzo on the tea ceremony. These names and ideas are familiar to Japanophiles but Chayka presents them in a new light, and connects them to an updated set of outcomes.
Less and More.
Silent and Noisy.
Plain and Ornamented.
Divine and Mundane.
TLfL reminds us that both Something and Nothing are essential to making, and moving the world we live in.
More here … https://www.kylechayka.com
* Big misses from someone who lived in Daikanyama for five years. No mention of Kenya Hara (who defines current Japanese industrial aesthetics), Shibui (the astringency that neighbors complete absence), or the Lotus Sutra (from the muddy bed comes the beautiful flower).
