In his abode, Lord Byron kept:
“Eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle, a crow, and a falcon”
That was in addition to 10 bloody horses! All those pets (minus the horses) roamed freely throughout the house! Obviously Byron liked animals and the companionship and the ability to observe natural fauna in his abode. It’s quite likely some of those little (or big) critters sparked some of the content of his poetry. However, having such a multitude of pets is indicative of a strong belief. Something abnormal (but enjoyable to one person) is indicative of that person having undergone great efforts to “install” that thing in their life. No one would ever accumulate such a multitude and such a diverse variety of four-legged, two-legged, winged, crawling, scurrying, grooming, purring and barking fauna if they did not have a higher belief and committed themselves to installing that. You dont’ just stumble upon all those pets; that takes some resolute certainty of some higher belief and interest. As much as I love animals (especially feline friends), this post is not about pets nor animal companions, but rather installing important and unique things in one’s life.
Minimalism
I remember when I had closed the apartment (idiotically, instead of permanently eliminating the rubbish, I put much of junk in storage instead of permanently eliminating clutter which I have done at present) when I lived in Southern California. I was about to start a crazy, sleepless, partially dangerous, road trip and series of plane trips along the coast and then to europe. That’s a different story altogether but what I am zeroing in on was how pristine and simple and clear and clean and productive I felt in those oh 2-3 days before leaving. Nothing was in the apartment except my computer, a desk, sparse food, and I think a vacuum (which didn’t make it into storage or something). I am very tempted to retell the entire story of giving some fairly gross people in a lodge the vacuum to cover a room that I never used and flying to europe but I am zeroing in on that minimalism. During that time I wrote a great post on Richard Feynman. It got a great response and was one of my better posts. Most importantly, it was enjoyable to write. I wasn’t fighting and fidgeting to get away from time-siphoning and energy-draining clutter nad rubbish. Things are easier with minimalism. Thus, that is easily the top one-of-five things that I would like to install!
It’s amazing what having just the bare minimum, the essentials, for a project (in that case, writing a blog post) will do. Your thinking is sharper and the time between having an idea and concisely and lucidly putting it down on a crisp digital page is freakishly exponentially decreased with minimalism. It’s easier to accomplish things if you have what you need. Period. And nothing else. Thus, one of my five top things I’d like to install is, obviously, minimalism. I’m writing a book on minimalism. Read books on minimalism and put tremendous time and work into achieving that. When you read my book you’ll quickly understand that “Serious Minimalism” really requires work and the superficial, faulty, feeble, and unstable minimalism is what most people get when they “think” they have minimalism after doing a quick 1-2 day purging or cleaning. As you’ll see in my upcoming book, proper minimalism requires months and years of practice and work. So that’s one of my five installations that I would like to do and am very confident I will achieve it.
Perceptions are portraits, not photographs, and their form reveals the artist’s hand every bit as much as it reflects the things portrayed” 1.
Indeed, just as a perception or a portrait reflects the beliefs and values and insights of the perciever or portrait, a multitude of birds, dogs, and five felines is an emblem of some larger belief, some interest. This is what this post is about. We’ve identified how perceptions (and portraits and pets) that are vastly different from others are emblematic of that individual’s dstinct beliefs and outlook. I think it’s better to have perspectives and belongings and outlooks and indeed “pets” that are unique to you and only you.
How To Select Your Top Five and Implement The Installations
- Follow-Up with yourself. Remember what’s meaningful.
- Really envision what would happen if you DID NOT install these in your life.
- Utilize a combination of fun, achievement, progress, success, enjoyment, pleasure, and peace when selecting the top five things you’d like to install
- Best suggestion: Think of the Top five things you need to install now and those are the five you will install!
References and End Notes
1. Gilbert, Daniel. Stumbling on Happiness. New York: First Vintage Books, 2005. p. 94.
Interaction