Hello and welcome to the de minimis blog.
The Latin phrase, “de minimis”, is used by legal and financial institutions to ensure time and resources are not wasted on what is trivial. This avoidance of triviality and frivolity, I believe, is desperately needed in the age of instant gratification in which we now find ourselves. I decided on the Latin phrase, de minimis, for this site because it encourages us to think about things that are worthy of our time (and to discard those which are not).
As such, this blog is intended to focus on deeper questions that provoke thought and introspection.
Here, I write about life. However, rather than asking ourselves the meaning of life, which is indeterminable, we should ask ourselves how is it that life should be lived. In this blog, I share my own analysis as well as ideas and works from around the world, past and present, that have taught me the best way in which to live and my journey in such a direction.
My name is not important. I have chosen the nom de plume of Venn, representing the Venn Diagram known in mathematics, a visual way to represent the intersection of discrete categories. In a way, we can all be considered to represent this type of overlap and interconnection.
In order to better acquaint you with my cultural background, I am a millennial who hails from a metropolis in the American southwest region. Eschewing the so-called “rat race” and luxuriant, decadent excesses of modernity in 21st century America, I relocated to a small rural exurb in the American Midwest where I am now writing and trying to build a simple life.
I was formally educated in liberal arts at a large state university in the Western US, but I am also self-taught through the Internet and books. I’ve spent more time reading on my own than at university.
When I’m not writing, I can be found spending time outdoors, reading, working my humble blue-collar job, or spending time with those I care about, whether in person or via telephone.
I have a skepticism and distrust of the “system”, authoritarianism and of modernity more broadly; however, I don’t subscribe to any exclusive point of view. Our world is too complex to be categorized neatly, and I believe truth and goodness can be found in the overlaps we see among different ways of life.
Finally, it is my intention that this website always be accessible to its audience free of charge. In this way, it operates outside the “system”. No private person, corporation, bank or government should, does, or will benefit directly from the spread of the information.
This website represents my life work, and hopefully a font of wisdom will emerge therein.
Wisdom gives freedom, and it too should be free.
Venn