Luxury
Just over a year ago, a fellow human and I were sitting on the floor of my apartment in Finland. We sat on the floor because I lived without furniture. We shared simple food and had a wonderful, deep conversation. They said: what a luxury!
It's so interesting to observe how my perception of some words and events changed over time. For example, while walking my life's path, I came to the realisation that solitude doesn't really exist. There are always non-human beings around. Trees, rivers, animals, the sun, the sea. Even air. Emptiness or empty space acquired positive connotations. Empty space is full of light, air. It's calming and peaceful. Doing nothing was something I struggled with at times. Over time, I learned to do nothing. Or perhaps rather seeing simple activities such as sitting with the sun as doing something. Something incredibly important, in fact.
Over many years, I've been thinking about luxury and abundance. Once a child asked, what is luxury? In our society, the word luxury is often used to refer to stuff, services and experiences. I even googled it out of interest, to see what comes up. Expensive cars, houses, jewellery, accessories, clothes, resorts, hotels. Something that is only affordable to a small proportion of fellow humans. Something that is not abundant.
I was sitting on our balcony on a warm September day here in Copenhagen. With me, I had a jar (that came with food) with tap water and some slices of an apple that I received from a fellow human in my neighbourhood, for free. A warm, bright day as we are stepping into Winter, safe and delicious water, a local apple. All of these things felt like a luxury to me. I experienced a wave of beautiful emotions such as gratitude and self-transcendence. A deep sense of wellbeing. It feels so important to think about simple, everyday, accessible things as luxurious, beautiful, desirable. Having said that, I am reminded of fellow humans who live without access to safe water and food, which is heartbreaking (living an extremely minimalist life allows us to support charities whenever we can, but individual actions in this case are not enough).
I believe that reframing luxury can help humans pursue better things in life (kindness, gentleness, honesty, being empathetic, being caring, spiritual growth, etc.). When I think about luxury, what comes to my mind are sunny days in winter in Copenhagen, spruce tips (their season is so short!) and other gifts from nature, tranquillity in a usually busy space (I'm thinking about walking across Stockholm at 6 in the morning).