Amerika

As part of the sea change in which we now exist, people are re-assessing what civilization should be, based on what the good life is. In particular, they are tired of jobs and careers which push them out of normal life just to be tax slaves.

They are tired of the status treadwheel, the endless quest to stay current, and the triviality of novelty. They have become bored with the quantitative quest for the different in preference to the qualitative quest of the best version of what exists.

This peeked out recently with the popularity of hygge as people dropped out of nightclub, movie, pop, and consumer culture:

Hygge is very near and dear to my heart. It means creating a warm environment, snuggling in, reading books, sitting by the fire.

Hygge also means — it’s kind of like simplifying things, stepping back, letting things not be great.

Claus Andersen, University of Wisconsin-Madison: It comes with this air of happiness, of contentment, of having a more balanced life.

Instead of searching for something external to complete you, you complete yourself by enjoying life and appreciating what it offers on a mundane level. Sometimes, just having a good time doing normal things exceeds any excitement the city has to offer.

Where modernity was based on the idea of symbolic unity, where everyone did the same thing at the same time and imposed a sense of purpose based on that, hygge finds purpose within and then spreads that outward through pleasure and contentment.

In particular, it means dropping away from the mania for the current, and instead to focus on the eternal parts of life, like the simple things we overlook that are more rewarding than symbolic participation:

In brief, hygge is about taking time away from the daily rush to be together with people you care about – or even by yourself – to relax and enjoy life’s quieter pleasures.

The word hygge dates back to around 1800, at least in the meaning it has today. However, various definitions of hygge can be traced back to the Middle Ages, where a similar Old Norse word meant “protected from the outside world.”

Hygge is often about informal time together with family or close friends. Typically, the setting is at home or another quiet location, or perhaps a picnic during the summer months. It usually involves sharing a meal and wine or beer, or hot chocolate and a bowl of candy if children are included. There is no agenda. You celebrate the small joys of life, or maybe discuss deeper topics. It is an opportunity to unwind and take things slow.

When modernity came about, we were reduced to “equal,” and then given the option to make ourselves important by rising in the social scene. This made all of us into self-marketers and that in turn required constant attention to trends and what is new.

Like hygge, healing fiction aims at a rediscovery of normal life and enjoying life itself instead of symbolic proxies for it:

Healing fiction is a term that has arisen over recent years, particularly used by publishers to describe Japanese and Korean novels in translation set in calm, cozy locations such as cafes, bookshops, and libraries, and usually featuring quiet, gentle plots with a thread of emotion running through them. They also often happen to feature cats. These novels have long been popular in Japan and Korea, but have gained new fans overseas since being translated.

Of course, we have a great history of this in Western pop literature, probably peaking with All Creatures Great and Small, but living on throughout the ages wherever the experience of life is praised instead of the experience of the Crowd.

Tags: externalization, healing fiction, hygge