One of my favorite quotes came randomly to me while listening to an audiobook from one of the great financiers of our time. I remembered it vaguely and tried to find the exact wording and ended up formulating my own quote:
The value of anything is its value between now and eternity
I've backtracked many times trying to find the source for the quote, I thought that I read it in Charlie Munger's book, but it turned out it's a Warren Buffett quote based on a Spinoza quote, and there was another investor guy squeezed in between.
“In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.”
― Baruch de Spinoza, Spinoza in der europäischen Geistesgeschichte
When he said that, I nearly jumped out of my course. What? I suddenly look up, and he said, and I remember exactly what he said: 'Spinoza said you must look at things in the aspect of eternity.' And that’s what suddenly hooked me on Ben Graham."
— Marshall Weinberg
“People always want a formula-but it doesn't work that way. You have to estimate total cash generated from now to eternity, and discount it back to today. Yardsticks such as P/Es are not enough by themselves." -Buffett ”
Excerpt From: Charles T. Munger, Peter D. Kaufman, Ed Wexler, Warren E. Buffett. “Poor Charlie's Almanack_ The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger, Expanded Third Edition.” iBooks.
Every single object you buy will cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars and actually possibly millions of dollars over your lifetime. It will cost you your time, attention and care. Every single one of your possessions will end up in the dumpster, and the landfill.
This is why, using the above quoted estimations, between and and eternity, most possessions will not only cost you $0, they will have a negative value, with a minus in the font. All the stuff you own is literally penny on the dollar worth.
Perhaps it's time for me to define the framework of New Minimalism a bit better and put it out there.
My own brand of minimalism started with myself and my personal insights, but the design of it started in Japan. I saw with my eyes the enormous worth of, hold your breath, rocks and sand. And dirt, sprinkled with moss here and there. You have to give it to the genius of the Japanese Zen monk who managed to get a staggering value out of simple dirt.
I made my realization, from what I do know of myself, if I had stayed in the field of money and silicon valley I would have never done any art. I would have gone on vacations and I would have had a great time spending money. I just know myself very well.
I knew that the cost of me traveling around the world having fun and not doing art is very very high. I would just not pick the brush or the pen and I would dabble here and there. Actually the most important aspect of it is that none of the ideas that I've ever come up with about work, none of these ideas came on beaches. The ideas came while I was among people in New York City, and its underbelly. I got ideas for work on the subway, and while cleaning the local park.
New Minimalism is a framework for living in the new millennium, where we will need to do great things so we have to come up with ideas of how to produce great things, and not dabble in small things. Small things are just not worth the great human mind. It's a framework where I hope the production of goods is replaced with production of a great space fairing civilization.
New Minimalism is a framework for the betterment of you , the betterment of human kind, and the betterment of the environment.
It's a all win framework.
New Minimalism encompasses all areas of life and not just your immediate environment at home.
