Necessities, Comforts and Luxuries
The Differences between Necessities, Comforts, and Luxuries and their change over time
It is always said that, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. Though it is a well known saying, yet it has different meaning for different people. Without a need, nothing would have ever been invented. Therefore there is a necessity attached everything and everyone. It could be food for someone, shelter for another and a job for the third. It only varies in degrees. The need of certain things has always improved the life of mankind.
A rich, meaningful and fulfilling life has always been a necessity to every individual. This might sound comfortable. But it is a necessity of an individual. There is only a hairline difference between necessity and comfort. Necessity means the most basic needs of an individual to survive. It could be the need for air, water, food, shelter, clothing, companion or even medical aid. In short, necessity is that particular need in the absence of which an individual cannot survive. For example, living under a shelter which guards an individual from heat and cold is a necessity. It may or may not be his accommodation. On the other hand, a comfortable living could mean living consciously choosing the values and beliefs that serve the best to the individual. For a couple, necessity could mean living under some roof, whereas comfort could mean living in a decent accommodation with at least minimal facilities such as ventilation, sanitation and privacy. In the absence of comfort some discomfort is felt. For example, if the above said couple lives under some roof probably a dungeon, without ventilation, it causes discomfort.
Luxury is a source of enjoyment and delight. The absence of luxury does not cause any discomfort. For example, having some food at some place is necessity. Having food at home thrice a day is comfort. Having candle light dinner at a five-star hotel is a luxury. This difference is mainly due to habit, and the deprival of such habitual luxuries usually causes discomfort. An individual cannot live without his necessity being fulfilled. He cannot live peacefully without comfort. But he can survive and live peacefully without luxury. Luxury is only an affair of habit. We have heard of people who died when they lost their wealth. Many famous personalities committed suicide when they lost their wealth since they considered that they cannot live life without such extravagance. Though losing life is an extreme case, yet it is generally accepted that a swift fall from great to moderate wealth is liable to cause positive discomfort from the sudden break of luxurious habits that it involves. In short comfortable living means a moderate living and luxurious living means extravagance.
Most often, the differentiating line between luxuries and comforts is a shifting one. Without the effect of habit, even ordinary comforts are named as luxuries. Whereas through habit, even the classiest luxuries become comforts, because parting them without discomfort is impossible. Therefore, with the habit of individuals, the line between comforts and luxuries varies indefinitely.
In today’s world, the meaning of necessity, comfort and luxury has changed a lot. This has not happened in a day. Over the years, the expectation levels of man have increased and thus the definition and differentiation of these have also changed. It was reasonably necessary for a man to wash his clothes daily. In the past, he would have done it on the banks of a river or even at the comfort of his home. In that scenario, science and technology had not developed much. Agriculture was the main occupation of many countries around the world. With time and scientific inventions, today the world cannot dream living without machines. Man took the efforts to improve his life style with the help of science and technology. These efforts were stimulated by his expectations. Today every home has a washing machine. Possessing a washing machine is a necessity of today’s man. If we think deeply, we could come to a conclusion that mankind always had a growth in their necessities and comforts which led to various efforts thereby ending up with the invention of multiple luxuries. For example, pre-historic man ate raw food. Then his need for tasty food led to the invention of fire. Precisely, cooking on fire was a luxury for the pre-historic man. But it is a necessity today.
In the past, to live was a necessity, to live decently be a comfort and to live delightfully be a luxury. But time has changed this trend. Everyone has an individual habit, lifestyle and environment. This determines the level of necessity, comfort and luxury for that particular individual. To conclude, we may state that though there is a clear difference between necessity, comfort and luxury in their definitions, yet the same varies with individuals, their habits and their living conditions over time. The necessity of someone could be a luxury to another. The luxury of a person might be the necessity of another. Hence the definition of the three factors is not uniform with everyone.
