Discussion continued from Facebook
I think this question has some very interesting implications, and it has already yielded some good discussion.
Its the same for some, but not everyone. For example, some people make heavy use of various technologies and supplements as part of their rewilding journeys while others prefer a more mlininalist approach that does not depend on those things. This is one example of how I would personally differentiate the two. Not everyone sees rewilding in the same light. Same for minimalism.
Maybe I should rephrase that… To me, rewilding IS minimalism, returning to simplicity and deep connection to the natural world. Not everyone sees things that way.
Can’t see the discussion, but absolutely not.
I know many who are into rewilding who end up practically hoarding tools or things they’ve made. Obviously the point behind the creation of those things is practice for more applicable use, but definitely not. The end goal of rewilding should clearly be minimalism.
But also being into minimalism myself, you see that most of the people pushing this predominantly live in cities and, quite often, are or were rich. Even with the tiny house stuff, you see people who carve out a tiny spot in a city that can go under 200 sq feet, but their subsistence necessarily goes immediately towards eating out for virtually every meal. You can go hyperminimalist and live in a tiny, tiny house and not challenge basic issues of consumption. It pays to not own or accumulate stuff, but that sadly doesn’t typically lead down the road of questions of subsistence and self-reliance.
Short version: rewilding should lead to minimalism, but minimalism doesn’t innately lead to rewilding.
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I always liked the saying in bushcraft that the more you know the less you have to carry. So a day pack, a quiver of arrows, my bow and appropriate clothing for the season and what I know in my head I should be able spend a week or more in the woods without much discomfort or hunger. However I’ve never had more than a weekend to test myself. This bothers me a lot because I need to prove myself to me. 
They’re probably more like two different paths that follow a similar direction
I would say minimalism is more of an aesthetic, and rewilding is more action oriented, more verb than adjective.
There seems to be a tendency within minimalism as popularly practiced to reduce one’s possessions to a smaller collection of very expensive, very fancy pieces of complex technology.
That said, I think minimalism is in a way an expression of our inner hunter-gather yearning for mobility. And I think this is why you see minimalism a lot in things like the “lifestyle design” or “location independent” entrepreneur communities. Rewilding implies something less mediated, less manufactured and abstract, but I think the underlying inclination comes from basically the same place.
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@andrew, I think reducing possessions to a manageable level is a positive toward rewilding in the true sense. Quality tools outweigh junk of course.A hundred dollar wetterling ax beats a 20 buck special from ace hardware. Almost everyone in Alaska prefers a stainless synthesis stock scoped rifle. I’m more a long bow and muzzleloader type.
With you there, @artedwards, I had in mind expressions more along the lines of 1 Tesla Roadster, 1 always new iPhone, 1 always new Apple whatever laptop, etc.
These things strike me as the minimalist expression of throwaway culture, where a minimal number of things are kept, and the rest are trashed as new things become available.
I think rewilding is partially about replacing things (tools even) with skills. I have multiple fancy firearms at camp here in Alaska. Those things are to compensate for a lack of wild skills (tracking, bow and arrow manufacture, bow use, etc.). For me, rewilding is about reducing the power over my life — gun grabbers and .22 ammo manufacturers and executive orders banning AK-47 imports due to geopolitical disputes in the Ukraine — would like to exert.
Relying on technologies I cannot manufacture opens my life to external control. Your example of blackpowder is probably at least partially an expression of that same desire to reduce external control of the tools you use.
At camp, there is a pile of old leaf springs and railroad tracks that have been reformed into many tools and implements. Blacksmithing is a great skill to learn in my opinion because even without the industrial megamachine, remnant metal will be around.
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Look at foxfire volume 5 on making traditional flint lock fire arms. A rifling machine is nice but most of the northern frontier was opened with the trade fusile or musket. A tight patched ball in a straight barreled smooth bore is accurate enough out to 50 yards to slay most large animals in one shot.
Everything we are sold is a redirection of our hunter-gatherer yearnings. But I’m not sure minimalism is always tied to mobility. I think maybe in a less direct way, having stuff means that you are weighed down with it and unable to flee. Obviously that plays on some deeply ingrained needs and wants, but it’s not an explicit aspect of minimalism.
Granted it should be and no finer textbook example of minimalism than nomadic hunter-gatherers, but it’s a point that’s lost.
There’s no doubt though that the rise of things like Paleo, cross fit, minimalism and all these other potential “trends” is a response to the hyper-mediated and hyper-sedentary lives that we’re sold. The hope is that participants will continue to pull the thread, but that’s the problem the commercializers hope to maximize on and, once again, redirect.
But it’s also an issue that minimalism is equally a response to crazy high tech innovations and marketing. Apple led the way by having stores that looked largely empty, but the idea was to take all of those gadgets that you could or would hoard and jam them into one or a few devices. I don’t doubt that within the next few years we’ll start to see more emphasis on things like information hoarding running as deep as physical hoarding goes.
In other news, what is the best gift you can get a minimalist? Subscribe to their blog.
I think there’s generational gap in thought. I’m older and what influenced me is even older. Mostly my dad. He said hunting, fishing and fucking are a man’s primal concerns. The rest is bullshit we have to deal with to do the first three. You have to pardon my frankness, it was how I was raised.
On /r/minimalism, there are two distinct sub-communities. The first views minimalism as living a simpler life. The other views it as reducing the number of items and their aesthetic complexity. The first examines the value item “X” provides to their lives, and the second asks if item “X” can be combined with item “Y” to make a new item “Z” (that must be bought immediately!) that does the function of both “X” and “Y” but reduces their item count by 1. An iPhone is awesome because they no longer need a phone and a Walkman, but have one device that does both things, for example.
The fighting between those two sub-communities is practically a holy war.
I’m on reddit way too much.
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I don’t know if that’s better or worse than Youtube, but I’ll continue to avoid both.
Minimalism step in the right direction. Meet people where they are at. You could probably write up a thesis similar to the paleo/perma/feral diet.