Lucidity Clarity
Simplicity and clarity can be based on two different concepts, minimalism or utilitarianism.
The utilitarian buys a watch that shows the time accurately, has a pleasant and easy-to-read display and costs 10 euros. He attaches only a practical value to the watch, not an idealistic one. The watch is a tool, a means to an end. Its simplicity stems from the fact that everything that does not serve a practical purpose is left out. Aesthetics don’t count, so there are no decorative elements on the watch. Simplicity or clarity in utilitarianism is thus the result, or the unintended by-product, of the optimal ratio of effort to benefit.
Minimalism arrives at simplicity from a different concept. Here, clarity is the intended goal, not the unintended consequence. Simplicity is an art form, an attitude to life, the expression of the conscious will to concentrate on the essential, to not let the essential be obscured by the detail.
The utilitarian point of view, which looks at everything only from its practical expediency, is thankfully no longer the dominant factor in our lives today. The utilitarian point of view, which looks at everything only from its practical expediency, is thankfully no longer the dominant factor in our lives today. We have outgrown the ant’s model of life, whose main purpose is to preserve the species, to increase the spread of its kind and to occupy the niche in nature given to it as densely as possible. We humans have already fully occupied our niche in nature. If we now give even more room to utilitarianism, hyper-productive, hyper-purposeful, hyper-frugal satisfaction of the needs of all human beings, and thus push the material dominance of man even further, then in a very short time we will have populated our planet to death, exhausted our resources, and destroyed our habitat. Our niche is not only already overcrowded, it has actually already burst. We humans have already passed the historical phase in which utilitarianism made sense.
Utilitarianism, life in expediency, is meant for the phase of a species of life that has to conquer its habitat, that has to assert itself against other species. Man has already conquered the planet and there is no other species to contend against, he is already over-dominant! If it now also becomes super-efficient, super-purposeful and super-virtuous, then it overshoots the mark. Stop! Now that was wrong! We have already exceeded the goal from the point of view of expediency! We can no longer overshoot the mark. We are already behind the finish line!
Utilitarianism’s goal of filling our niche has long been achieved! We should turn around and return to the destination we have crossed!
The meaning of our lives should actually be redefined now. The honest, hard-working, virtuous ant- or bee-man, who represents the ideal image of Western morality, and who faithfully follows God’s instruction in the Bible to subdue the world, should actually stand before God and say: “Hey man! We have subdued the world, now what?”
What is needed now is something completely new. People have to look for other goals than the “American Dream” of self-fulfilment through career and wealth.
The planned goal of the well-behaved citizen in expediency was already fulfilled in western society in the 1960s and the cultural revolt of the youth and art scene of the time came at exactly the right time for western society. In Asia and Africa, where people were still destitute at the time, the situation was different. There, utilitarianism was still quite sensible.
Although life in “expediency”, productivity, virtue and frugality, no longer makes sense globally, we should not, however, completely deny it any right to exist. The ideal embodiment of this way of life, as practised by Mahatma Gandhi, for example, does not only contain “practical” elements that are tied to a certain position of human development and become meaningless when humanity has left this position. Mahatma Gandhi’s lifestyle contains much more. As in every attitude to life and in every way of life, in every philosophy and outlook, there is a light and a joy at its base, which is the very root of the way of life. Those who think that Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Theresa were people who took on a life of privation and renunciation with sacrifice for others, and did not really have a nice life for themselves, are mistaken. Mahatma Gandhi had discovered for himself the light and joy that fuel the virtue of utilitarianism, of frugality, of simplicity, and at the same time that of minimalism, which give these virtues their life, their power. Without the source of light and joy, this attitude could never hold its own against other attitudes to life, which also have their light and source of joy at the bottom of their root.
“Gandhiism”, practicality embedded in minimalism, thus also contains within itself, detached from a social “sense”, a rich treasure of substance that can take on its various opposites at any time: the opulent, the overloaded, the baroque, or the “laisser-faire” attitude and waste.
Minimalism, as opposed to utilitarianism, is a style and a way of life that focuses on the real, the essential. If we embrace this path, or elements of it, we will realise that its potential for joy and pleasure is in no way inferior to that in opulence.
The motive for practising minimalism is the joy of focusing on the essential. Pure joy, without frills, without deviation, without straying, an attitude to life that leads directly to the whole and does not dwell on and indulge in the unimportant.
The philosophy of Niveau élevé, and especially of the Lucidity model, gives high value to the element of minimalism, concentration and focus, and tries to bring out the origin of this element, the pleasure of simplicity and concentration on the essential. However, she is sceptical about utilitarianism, the pursuit of a “sense of utility”.
We have already reached the platform of satisfied basic needs, which is necessary to enjoy the meaning of our lives. Thus, the meaning of life is now its purpose, not the preparation for it.
Lucidity is a model that combines the joy of value, of the depth of richness, with simplicity and a focus on the essential. Only a few can mentally or conceptually afford the luxury of being both in luxury and above it. Luxury contains in itself, i.e. in terms of the concept, absolutely nothing negative. Luxury is the fact of being independent of material limitations. One reaches this state when one has more material means than material needs. Those who are very rich but have even greater needs that are thus then unsatisfied are actually already no longer living in luxury. The big mistake many make is to want to frantically flaunt the state of luxury. To do this, they then use the means of presenting pompous and “loud” symbols of luxury. But mostly these are people who in reality have not yet reached the level of luxury. They may have accumulated a certain amount of wealth, but they are still in the red in their inner balance between available resources and material needs. Those who have really managed to no longer have any material limitations do not flaunt their state of luxury.
The definition of luxury, according to our philosophy, is simply the positive balance between desires and possibilities. One can achieve this by increasing the possibilities or by moving from a meaningless infinity of desires to a manageability in one’s desires and reducing one’s desires to those that are truly essential or interesting. So many desires find their justification only in a kind of inner food envy and do not enrich us, but deprive us of the joy of actually reaching the level of luxury, of being free of limitations. According to our definition of luxury, Mahatma Gandhi spent a life of luxury. With the status he enjoyed in India, with the multitude of his followers, with the scope of his thoughts and ideas, he certainly had an enormous potential of possibilities. But he had perfected the art of reducing desires to such an extent that the relationship between possibility and need was almost infinite.
Lucidity expresses the situation of luxury in a perfect way. It contains many elements of profound beauty and value. But she renounces the loud, the excessive, the senselessly over-decorative. The plane behind the hands is always completely uniform. The background against which the movement of the hands, i.e. the action of our lives, takes place is either pure diamond, set in white gold, or a uniform surface of ruby, sapphire, emerald or another precious stone. In the case of a fully bordered background, a specially developed division and barrel type is used, which employs a clarity and regularity with the same stone size that is only applied to the Niveau élevé. There are no additional design elements on the background disc, which is the dial on normal watches. The inner lunette is either set with diamonds or gemstones at minute intervals or kept plain. The case of the Lucidity is not set with diamonds, but gives the background disc, the movement and the dial a simple frame that emphasises the fullness and richness of the symbolism of the watch and its value through harmony in contrast.
The Lucidity is the watch for those who seek aesthetics in simplicity, who don’t want the full effect of beauty to be thwarted by detailing, who have the necessary inner security to enjoy their luxury themselves without having to present it to their surroundings first.