I once talked to a guy who thought of himself as Zen / minimalist -- and thought I was too. Minimalism isn't a thing for me. It's not a sense of aesthetics, th

I once talked to a guy who thought of himself as Zen / minimalist -- and thought I was too. Minimalism isn't a thing for me. It's not a sense of aesthetics, though I do like the ascetic and pared-down aesthetic ... but also the decadent and baroque of Victorian and steampunk. What I do and what I am got confused with minimalism because I actually practice meditation, and I actually know what kind of effect things, objects, emotions, thoughts, and narratives have on the psyche. Minimalism, when it becomes a a thing one identifies with, as a form of social signaling, and as a form of narrative about yourself tells me that that person is no longer practicing impeccably. "Do you own the object or does the object own you?" still applies even if you become obsessed with minimalism. You might have purged a number of consumer goods out of your life, and yet the very _idea_ of minimalism continues to possess and obsess you. It has never been about getting every little thing out of your life. It's sufficient for it to reveal enough of your truer self. It's about shedding your social identities, not heaping ostentation upon more ostentation.