Tags
Earth, Environment, luxury, Luxury good, needs, society, Sustainability, sustainable living, wants
Why are we so conditioned to love luxury, the luxury of goods, of possession, of power and of dominance. Yesterday, i tuned to BBC World and they were moving in France trying to unfold the reason of “The French unhappiness”. When you have everything that you are supposed to possess and gain in life, when people are so helpful and supportive in rough times, what can still make you unhappy. I may not know what makes the French unhappy, but what I know is I am very uncomfortable with luxury of any kind. Instance, take me to a 5 star hotel suite, I must be marvelling at the decor, the king size bed and all the unnecessary stuff in such a large room, but I am struck with a feeling of indifference that slowly melts into an unpleasant mood. At this moment all I think off is, wastage, everything in this room is such a sheer waste. The thought triggers a series of questions, from the evil crime of participating in inequality towards the living and exploitation of natural world.
Personally, I am more of a person who is connected to self and the more deeper the self connection the more profound is the connection with others and nature. Places and pieces of luxury act as a disconnection for me from my inner self as well as the rest of the living world. The more the physical comforts i get the more uncomfortable my heart and mind become. And my sudden urge is to break up from luxury. As soon I do it I start feeling light-headed and hearted, as if I am again grounded to my roots, able to establish a lost connection. It feels like home-coming. This is not a new phenomenon, I have mostly been like this through life so far. When I try to find a logical reason I get something on the lines of how i am defining my needs and wants.
The lines are very thin and blurred between needs and wants. And the key may lie in distinguishing between these two. This is an age of smart sustainable living over the old ways of indulgent lifestyles. So, making a smarter choice is the key. All it needs is to just start asking the question, Don’t ask, Do I really need this or that thing, but ask Why do I need this or that thing? Slowly the lines start resurfacing and it is easier to make the smarter choice.
To me, my needs are few and I don’t take more than my share from this planet without forgetting to return as much as I can, back to Mother Earth. So luxury becomes undesirable and starts choking me inside.
Aakanksha's Blog 
always a pleasure listening to you…
Thanks Prasad!
Hi Aakanksha,
This post reminds me of Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden. Have you read it? If not, then do give it a shot. I am sure you will connect well with it.
The book can be *legally* downloaded for free from: http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/thoreau/thoreau-walden6x9.pdf
Sharing a relevant para from Page 47 of the book:
Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. What if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners? One piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high as the moon. I love better to see stones in place. The grandeur of Thebes was a vulgar grandeur. More sensible is a rod of stone wall that bounds an honest man’s field than a hundred gated Thebes that has wandered farther from the true end of life.
Cheers 🙂
I haven’t read the book.
Thanks for sharing!
hi… it’s nice article… it really shows ur down to earth and simple living n high thinking attitude… it’s good to find that there is someone who also feels somewhat like me… but the king size bed and all the unnecessary stuff in such a large room, make me all difference… and that difference makes me to think to reach the same conclusion u hav alked about… I usually thinks of a chunk of eminent people sitting in AC offices and talking about global warming…. and effect of man’s action on mother nature… ha… :p I think life is a show off… n ppl r busy in that…