A happy life. A virtuous life.
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Voluntary plain living.
Voluntary moderate consumption.
(-i.e. not necessarily due to limited means, but out of free will).
One should value what one has. -what one has experienced.
-With the memory of that. It is satisfactory. Enough.
I read in a book by Bill Bryson, the following line – ‘It has struck me, the English do like their pleasures in small amounts.’
(-i.e. the English people. Quote not verbatim).
The thing itself is important – the amount of it is not so significant.
This applies to entertainment, food etc.
For example, one may eat only two sweets or a small portion of cake at a time or in a day. As a matter of habit.
He/she may choose to watch a television program for only half an hour at a time.
(-Unless it is a film. – Even then, with breaks.
So not three or four episodes of a serial one after another).
With beautiful or nice things like taking photographs on travel or of a nice article at home, one may take only a few.
And not a huge number and variations.
Such like.
_
Although one may have a large balance in bank accounts. One may have interesting, useful and technologically advanced gadgets and devices in a corner of one’s house, but one need not generally use it.
Also, just because I can buy, doesn’t mean I should.
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Culture means loving some things. Considering them one’s own. Not just refinement or sophistication.
Morality and good-heartedness are essential elements of the concept of ‘culture’. –Or ‘pre-requisites’. A person cannot be cultured without these.
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PRACTICAL :
One should not think about negative or ‘undesirable’ things at all, in life.
One should not give even one moment for such thoughts. –except out of practical necessity i.e. to learn lessons from.