Minimalism: almost 2,500 years old

“There is a misconception that minimalism is a modern movement,” says William Stephens, PhD, professor of philosophy. “It is anything but a modern movement. It is almost 2,500 years old.”

Minimalism is a tool that can assist us in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom. If we had to sum it up in a single sentence, we would say, Minimalism is a tool to rid ourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important, so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.

Diogenes of Sinope was an ancient Greek philosopher who, at different points, allegedly lived in a wine barrel, urinated on guests at a banquet, defecated in the theater, lived on a diet of onions, and was one of the few people who openly mocked Alexander the Great and stayed alive.

Born in Sinope, along the Black Sea in modern-day Turkey, around 412 BCE, Diogenes was banished from his hometown for “debasing the currency.” He was the original, at least the original as recorded in Western history, homeless person. He was a vagrant. This is where the minimalism starts.

The people of ancient Greece knew the philosopher Diogenes by many nick names. Plato called Diogenes "a Socrates gone mad". Most often the Greeks called Diogenes "the dog". The Greek word for dog was "cynic". In fact, Diogenes teacher Antisthenes - pupil of Socrates - founded the Greek school of cynicism, and Diogenes was and is the most notorious cynic.

The philosophy of Diogenes was more than just an ascetic movement, he didn’t just renounce possessions, he preached obscenity, broke taboos, viciously attacked customs, and was relentlessly rude. For he considered, honesty to be a key value, and he saw Athenian customs and manners as a form of lie.

Stories about Diogenes the Cynic are shared by a later Diogenes, Diogenes Laertius, in his 10 volume “Lives of the Philosophers”. One of the stories involves a little wooden bowl that Diogenes the Cynic once carried, which he used for eating and drinking.   When he saw a child cupping his hands to drink water, the radical philosopher threw away his own cup, remarking something along the lines of “A child has beaten me in plainness of living.”

The epitome of minimalism !