The Simplicity Collective | A Community of People Exploring a Life that is Materially Simple, Inwardly Rich.

Nov 14, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Preface to “Siddhartha Reborn: A Novel in Search of the Middle Way between Nietzsche and the Buddha”

Here is the preface to my new work of fiction, Siddhartha Reborn: A Novel in Search of the Middle Way between Nietzsche and the Buddha. The book is available online at most of the large distributors, including paperback (here or here) or Kindle. Preface For the best part of two decades, I have been reading Nietzsche seriously while only dabbling in Buddhism. Over the last few years, however, I have... read more

Nov 14, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Siddhartha Reborn: A Novel in Search of the Middle Way between Nietzsche and the Buddha

In 2013 I published my first novel, Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (audiobook coming soon!). This year I have been working on my second – something a bit different for me – which I am very happy to say has just been published. It’s called Siddhartha Reborn: A Novel in Search of the Middle Way Between Nietzsche and the Buddha. As the title suggests, this new work of... read more

Nov 1, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Reverence before Restraint (interview question #22)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Let me close this interview by engaging you on a theme that you shared in a new essay, unpublished at the time of writing. The thesis of your manuscript is implied in your provisional title: ‘Reverence Precedes Restraint: How... read more

Oct 30, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Aesthetic State (interview question #21)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. In the table of contents of your book SMPLCTY, there are three ‘parts’, only two of which are published in that large text. There is a third part that has not yet been published, which is entitled ‘The Aesthetic State: Toward... read more

Oct 28, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Dandyism and Fascism (interview question #20)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Let me pose a critical question and invite a response. It seems that your entire worldview is founded upon a form of ‘aestheticism’ that at least risks being interpreted as mere Dandyism. There is also a risk that your... read more

Oct 25, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Society as a Work of Art (interview question #19)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Your defence of aesthetic education is coherent, but you never suggest that societal transformation can be achieved solely at the personal or cultural level. In your engagement with Herbert Marcuse, you speak of an ‘aesthetics of... read more

Oct 24, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Role of Aesthetic Education (interview question #18)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. If art, broadly defined, is central to what it means to be human in a cosmological process of creative evolution, ‘aesthetic education’ must play a critical role in transitioning to the ecological civilisation you label SMPLCTY.... read more

Oct 22, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

An Aesthetics of Existence (interview question #17)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. You’ve spoken often about how ‘homo aestheticus’ is reflective of our human nature. However, the idea of human nature implies something fixed and universal, something that determines the outcome. How do you reconcile this... read more

Oct 20, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Toward a Politics of Beauty (interview question #16)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. How do these ideas you are discussing lead to what you call a ‘politics of beauty’? I find Schiller’s perspective important not just aesthetically but politically. Modern societies often oscillate between two forms of... read more

Oct 19, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Freedom through Beauty (interview question #15)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Earlier we considered Schiller’s anthropological thesis that beauty gave birth to humanity. What did Schiller mean when he said that it is only through beauty that we arrive at freedom? This brings us into contact with some... read more

Oct 12, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Poetic Conception of Life (interview question #14)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. As well as music, you often speak of poetry and the poetic, which is perhaps not surprising since you are a writer with a love of language. Why is poetry important to your work? And why do you feel it is necessary or important to... read more

Sep 16, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Music (interview question #13)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. In a body of work that celebrates art and aesthetics in all their forms and variations, music seems to hold a special place in your philosophical perspective. Why is this? What’s special about music? Yes, I think that is... read more

Sep 13, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

An ‘Aesthetic Justification’ of Existence (interview question #12)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are two thinkers who have a lot to say about suffering. What place does suffering hold in your worldview? And to what extent, despite the prevalence of suffering, can we say that there is nevertheless an... read more

Sep 9, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Creative Evolution (interview question #11)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Your last words return us to the cosmological perspective, in the sense that it seems you’re saying that existence is inherently aesthetic and that this is somehow fundamental to our place in the universe. Here you employ the term... read more

Sep 6, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Democratising the Poet (interview question #10)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. If Henry Thoreau inspired some of these ideas, you also say that you go beyond him by seeking to ‘democratise the poet’ – and here the influence of William Morris again becomes clear. Can you expand on how Morris influenced... read more

Invitation / Incitation

The Simplicity Collective is founded upon the idea that a 'simpler life' of reduced resource and energy consumption is a viable and desirable alternative to consumer culture.

Our position is that simple living will improve not only our own lives, but the lives of others, as well as help save our planet from the environmental catastrophe towards which we are so enthusiastically marching.

We must not just fall in line, then, and continue the march ‘business as usual.’ We must explore alternative ways to live. We must experiment creatively, like the artist. We must be the poets of our own lives and of a new generation.