The Basics

Just exactly what are the basics of living a decent life? I’m talking about what most of us need first of all, then what some of the qualitative wants are. Just a few. Luxuries are not included here. Just the basics.

I think the basic needs include these items:

• Shelter/housing/safety
• Food, nutritional support
• Clothing, body covering and protection against climate conditions
• Medical care, basic health attention
• Love, relationships with family and friends; belonging; social well-being
• Transportation

The second level of ‘needs’ are actually qualitative wants. This list will help understand what I mean:

• Education and training; to acquire skill sets to manage daily life requirements; later an expansion to intellectual interests and needs
• Career growth for both income sustainability and psycho/social enhancement
• Social/political knowledge for controlling and understanding social contract of governance
• Higher standard of living: housing quality, food quality, clothing style and fashion, pricier cars and travel accommodations, luxury goods and more of the same

Both lists could easily extend by a factor of 100! Just glance through the Yellow Pages for sellers of services and goods. The array is enormous. So much for wants and needs.

The more we have available and use, the more we get used to having. Simple wants turn into needs in a flash. Expectations grow and in a ‘free market’ environment, he who has the funds gets the goods he wants.

The trouble with this consumption pattern is its self indulgent nature. The consumer is encouraged to follow his interests thinking he is filling a need that is basic to him. The farther he follows the trail the more diverted he is from what is really important. It is hoped that one day he will awake to survey a pile of things that mean very little to him because what really matters was always there for him to see and with which to relate.

It has always interested me to hear stories of adventurers or explorers who came across small villages of primitive peoples in the wild. Those peoples, although shy and at first fearful, opened their arms and welcomed the strangers with a feast and celebration. The food and paraphernalia of the celebration taxed the village’s ability to feed themselves let alone strangers. Yet they did. From a community of poverty came goods of plenty to be shared. That was important to them. That was a central part of their identity of caring, welcoming people.

Embracing family, neighbors and the surrounds of broader community is a qualitative element most of us yearn for. This doesn't require fancy home, clothes, cars or any other show of wealth. It only rests on giving time and attention to one another. Belonging becomes the identified element. Belonging.

Intentionally exploring life and its meaning is another qualitative element. The acts of exploration and the rewards of discovery grow in importance. Without the roots of meaning these discoveries erect in our lives, we are easily distracted to follow other interests and dalliances of time and self pleasure.

Working at self discovery enlarges one’s world and enables more caring for others. This person discovers more than himself; he finds a world and his place within it.

America is a land of plenty. It is also a land of embarrassing riches. And ignorance. Too many of our fellows know less and less of themselves as they indulge in petty pleasures. They lose themselves in meaninglessness. Others with much less know more of life and value it differently.

Perhaps it is having less that teaches us what has more value?

For those who continue to want and splurge on self interest, they will know in time the emptiness of their yearning. All they really need to do is focus on their inner self and family and community. There they will find more bounty than they ever imagined.

Basics. Back to basics. And community with others.

April 27, 2015