He had moved things in 1 thing at a time, exercising extreme triage. The first thing was a tea set, which also happened to be his most recent acquisition.
When I visited again, the next year … the term that comes to mind is “impressionistic” … perhaps also “symphonic” … almost stark, but not quite. Not by intent, but what he had actualized was quintessentially Zen, c/w wabbi sabbi. It was was quite wonderful!

It is so true that when one pares down their belongings what is left does become more precious. You start to look at that item in a whole new light. When you have 20 of something (t-shirts for example) none of them are all that special. Remove them all but 3, now those 3 are like the greatest gift in the world. You treasure them more, care for them more, appreciate them more.

If people would just stop the over consumption and start to take care of the items that they already own then i think the world could be a happier place. It’s not about deprivation, but only those of us that have figured this whole thing out really understand that. Unfortunately the ones that have everything, they are truly the deprived ones.