💾 Archived View for bbs.geminispace.org › u › Half_Elf_Monk › 21794 captured on 2024-12-17 at 15:51:32. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
As an aside that probably belongs in /s/philosophy or /s/minimalism, I'm utterly unconvinced that eliminative matieralism is a fitting vehicle to carry a person to think and live like that ('minimalist' in the sense of non-greedy). If the material world and its power/pleasure is all there is, what real reason does anyone have to restrain themselves? Apart from appeal to 'the greater good' (a terrifying phrased when used against you), all we have are the epicurean deal that trades quality of life for a bit more quanitity. It's evident that this doesn't convince very many people.
Point is: the rampant consumer lifestyles that are awful are... a side effect of something deeper about the way we think. So also are the pleasant pastoral scenes of Shire life. I don't mean a side effect of man's relationship to his Things (see aforementioned Mathom Houses), but rather man's understanding of himself in the external world, and the world's relationship to anything transcendant. That question looms upstream of contentment with life, and the capacity to successfully live a happy life apart from "Things."
I guess not much of this has direct bearing on Hobbits, since Tolkien gave a rosy illustration of the Shire, but not much by way of its philosophy. Sorry let's get back to the midmorning tea. And Elevensies.
Nov 15 · 5 weeks ago
Hobbit Ethos — I love the idea of this subspace. I'm a huge Tokien fan, fwiw, so this was an easy sell already. Question: What are the overlaps between a Hobbit ethos and minimalism? at first it would seem like there are quite a few... mostly in the idea of a non-digital life. It's very organic, steady and measured. Tolkien even talks about how the hobbits seemed to be pretty stuck in their ways. They were wary of outsiders and didn't travel far, or know many things outside of their own happy...
💬 Half_Elf_Monk · 3 comments · 1 like · Nov 14 · 5 weeks ago