A Simple Way to Minimalist Living

A Simple way to minimalist Living – Right Understanding of what physical facilities I need and in what quantity I need them – Leads to Mutual Prosperity for Us and Nature!

We all eat food, right? Can you tell for what purpose we eat food? Is it for nurturing the body or is it just for the taste or for showcasing that we are eating in a star hotel or because someone told us the food is tasty in a particular hotel?

What is the purpose of the physical facilities, the food we eat, the house we live in, the dress we wear, the vehicles we have etc. If you think deeply, you can see the purpose of such physical facilities are: 

You can see the purpose of such physical facilities are: 

1. Nurturing the body
2. Protecting the body and 
3. Right utilisation of the body.

What do you say? Is there any other purpose for the physical facilities that we are using?

Just look around your house and see the things there. If you ask whether that is nurturing or protecting your body or used for the right utilisation of your body, you will be wondering at those many things that we do not need at all! 

I feel sorry to say, I have many many such things at home which we have not used for any purpose for a long time! Actually, I am getting the thought like, can I talk about minimalist living? In what capacity do I start to write this? …But, the understanding I got now might help some of my friends, right? So, I dare to share a few things in this context. 

We need food to nurture our bodies. But, just observe, are we taking food for nurturing only? Are we not indulging in the taste and the appearance? Are we not overeating many a time? Are we not influenced by others in choosing the hotels and the items? Have you thought, “Why did I eat that after eating some unhealthy food? Many times I have felt that I should not have eaten that or I should not have taken the coffee.

We need a shelter to protect our body. But, are we going for houses only for that purpose? Are we not influenced by others? Are we not going for houses as a status symbol? Don’t we assume that if I have a big house people will respect me? 

In the same way, the dress we wear is for protecting our body, right? Just observe what we are doing in selecting the dresses. Accumulating more and more dresses, if you check your cupboard, you will wonder why you are having so many and you can see many of them you are not even using! I have personally experienced this feeling!

We need a vehicle/mobile phone/any gadgets for the right utilisation of our body. Are we purchasing a car, a motorbike, or any gadgets only for that purpose? Are we not influenced by the one others have? Are we not using that to show us as special?

Mostly, we are guided by sensation: that sweet is tasty, that black colour car looks good, that sofa in my friend’s house is very soft, that saree my friend has is very good …. and we go by that sensation for getting those physical things, isn’t it?

Again, we have preconditioning or assumptions: if I eat in that hotel people will respect me, if I have a big house / high-end model car others will look at me,  if I am wearing a costly dress then people will respect me, … and we are motivated by such assumptions to purchase the physical facilities, even that we do not need!

If we look at nature, 

• there is soil, metal etc., which we call physical order, 
• there are trees, plants etc., which is called Bio order, 
• there are animals, and birds that we call animal order and of course, 
• we, humans are there in nature called human order.  

If we closely observe nature, we can see trees are getting enriched by the soil and the soil again is enriched by the trees in the form of manure. In the same way animals are enriched by the plants and the plants are enriched by the animals. Likewise all three orders, the physical, the bio and the animal orders are mutually enriching each other. Have you ever noticed this?

But, the human order, what do we do? We are getting from all the other three orders and are we enriching them in turn? Are we enriching the soil or the other way? Are we protecting the trees and animals? 

Can you see our survival is dependent on the other three orders? Then, why are we not making efforts to preserve or enrich them? 

Do not go into guilt! Ask yourself, do you want to destroy the physical order, the mountains, the rivers etc., do you want to harm the animal order, do you want to harm the plants?  

No, we do not have the intention to do so. We have the natural acceptance to enrich them, to protect them and not to exploit nature. Do you accept this? Even if you ask the person cutting the trees, the person taking the sand from the river, they will also tell you that they want to nurture the environment and not exploit it.

But, why are we not taking efforts to preserve or enrich them? The answer is our lack of right understanding of what physical facilities we need(not want!) and in what quantity we need them. That is the reason, we keep on exploiting nature. If we develop the understanding of our needs we would not accumulate the physical facilities. 

If we are going on constructing the buildings how can you expect him to stop taking the sand from the river? Cutting the trees again. A very simple example, have you seen people using tissue papers just like that so recklessly. All these happens not because we want to harm the nature, but the lack of right understanding.

Whenever you are about to purchase any physical facility, ask yourself whether this is going to nurture or protect or help in the right utilisation of your body, ask whether you really need it or just want to have it? You will not indulge in accumulating the physical facilities.

So, if we want to live a minimalist life a simple way is to develop the Right Understanding of what physical facilities we need and in what quantity we need that. This will lead to Mutual Prosperity for Us and Nature! Can you see this? 

(Reference book: a foundation course in human values and professional ethics, by R R Gaur, R. Asthana, G P Bagaria, edition 3)