Years ago, a Buddhist<\/a> teacher of mine told me that \u201cyou don\u2019t own stuff. The stuff owns you.\u201d<\/p>\n Every\u00a0thing<\/em> you have costs you an attention tax, a worry tax, eventually a loss tax, as you waste precious energy on the objects around you that could be used in activities and in caring for people and the world.<\/p>\n As I wrote about my recent time in the desert, there is a kind of simplicity developed<\/a> there that makes clear the great cost of\u00a0having<\/em> so much\u00a0stuff<\/em>. That cost is\u00a0contentment.<\/em><\/p>\n Minimalism, inspired by Zen (Buddhist) philosophy, is on the rise in Japan.<\/p>\n