I've been waiting to hear you address this question for a long time.

Pastor John, I'm glad we've gotten around to it this summer.

It's a question that comes in from a listener named Kelsey.

Hello, Pastor John.

What are the differences and possible similarities between wartime living and what has recently

been called minimalism?

Is wartime living minimalism itself, or perhaps minimalism while broadly popular today is

a passing fad for the elite?

In your mind, what distinguishes wartime living from minimalism?

The little bit that I'm aware of and a little bit that I understand this newer expression

called minimalism, it seems to me to be a loose trend in our culture to own fewer things

and strip down the complexities of life to the basics largely driven by a desire for

greater self-realization, greater happiness.

The New York Times describes one advocate like this.

He gave up his permanent home, life goals, and negative emotions.

He threw away his college diploma, which had been gathering dust and storage, quote,

I don't hold on to all the things society tells me to hold on to.

He now carries nothing but a bag of clothes and a backpack containing a computer and iPad

and a smartphone.

I have zero other possessions he writes, and thanks to this, he has found peace as a wandering

technosetic Silicon Valley's version of Zinn Monkwood, and it goes on like this from tiny

houses to micro apartments, to monochromatic clothing, to interior decorating trends, picture,

...