Egoism

The thing that is supposed to be bad, but is not in a real life. Egoism is one of the "cornerstones" of minimalism. But before telling you about it as part of minimalism, let me show the REAL essence of egoism. 

As I said, it is supposed to be a bad thing? But is it? 

Egoism is the reason of any self-motivation, concluding from that we can see it as the main engine of the development process. Egoism is also an orientation tool, the tool of your life. "What do I want?" -the question that creates your life objectives and aims. Being egoist means to understand your life path and your aims and to do everything to reach it. However, here is the tricky point. Most of the people think that egoists won't help others or that they will achieve the aims by hurting and "using" others. Let me explain that for you, these are not egoists, they are idiots. Egoism doesn't affect your behavior and doesn't make you selfish and dishonest, but it opens your real personality. So if you are a dishonest idiot by your nature then a range of your action will not be really good from the behavioral point of view. 

So, egoism is a "key" tool in terms that it opens real you. Is it bad? Of course, not. Understanding and realizing your personality is one of the steps for the change (if needed). 

Concluding: egoism is the main motivational thing that can be seen as the main engine of your self-development. Here is another tricky point: "SELF", that means that it is only about you. This point usually is the main thing why it is supposed to be bad. People think that egoistic person won't do anything for others, but it is not so at all. Self-development relates to your identity and usually, it is not just about you, but also includes your family, friends, and people you love.

If you are an egoist does it mean that you shouldn't help others? Well, yes, if you are an asshole, but overall, that depends. That depends upon the people you gonna help and their aims and so on. Many (and I hope most of) people do not have a narrowed life-aims, usually, such thing as becoming extremely rich and have a huge house is a stepping point (or an additional one). Mostly, we have a certain passion: for some of us it is music, for others business - and we want our passion to develop, moreover, we want to be the part of this developing process. So, imagine that you are passionate about the science, don't you want to help young students to develop better and faster, so the whole industry will grow? If you are not then you are not an egoist, but usual townee and a person. 

As I have described my own vision of egoism, now let's have a look at it as a part of minimalism philosophy. Egoism orients you, helps you to define and set up your path. Egoism motivates you, it is the engine of you self-development. Egoism unifies your identity, shows who you are and who is a part of your heart. Now tell me, isn't it so, that the minimalism is all about it?

When you are ready with your answer (which is for sure "yes"), you may have a question: so what is the difference between these two terms? The minimalism is a wide-scope philosophy and the egoism is a "tool" and the way how you can obtain this philosophy in your own, unique way. Here we can make a certain plan, how it is working: 

• You, your attitude, your ideas 

This is our basis. I'd like to call it a "diamond". And we need to give a form and shape to this diamond: form your philosophy and ideology.

• Egoism

As I said it already it is a tool, so all we need to do with our diamond is to "egoism" it: through the influence of egoism we need to analyse what is necessary and who is necessary, what is right for you and for the ones you love; find the things, information, shit that you can throw away and cut off.

• Minimalism

Making a brilliant out of your diamond. Cutting off everything that you don't need, everything that makes your life not so beautiful and not so "valuable". Minimalism is not a step, where you are getting your final ideology, but the philosophy that makes it clear and keeps your "brilliant" in the right shape.