THE ESSENTIALS TO SURVIVE
We, as a generation, are consciously and consistently pursuing the many comforts of life. It is natural to want more for ourselves, to make our lives as well-provided-for as we can. But, the question has to be asked~ what do we need to survive this life?
As the popular adage goes in Hindi, “Roti, Kapda aur Makaan” is all we need to take care of ourselves materially. That translates to the pan globally accepted fact that food, clothing and shelter are the absolute bare essentials for survival, and whatever else we manage to procure for ourselves through the course of our life is all just additional blessings.
But to agree with, or even understand this line of thought, first, we need to delve into what we, as individuals, consider to be an inalienable need.
What is the difference between a need and a want?
The first question that we face while attempting to gauge ourselves and what we desire is whether we want it to enhance a particular experience, or we need it to be able to have that particular experience at all. And therein lies the most basic difference between a want and a need.
You see, when we want something as a simple attribute, to improve upon or enhance what we already have, we label it as a ‘want’. On the other hand, when we desire something that is an absolute must for survival, that is what we call a ‘need’.
The most important highlight that is imperative in the difference between a want and a need is the one simple word, “essentiality”. If something is essential for your survival, or if something is a bare necessity that you might just not be able to make do without, it is a need. But if you can manage to do without something but you still desire to be in its possession for personal satisfaction, it is a want.
How do needs drive the way we live our lives? Is it necessary to satiate our wants?
Needs are multi-faceted, they can be physical, emotional, and even intellectual~ basically, there’s something in almost every sphere of our life that we feel we could not do without. And once that feeling sets in, our behaviour moulds itself in a goal-oriented way; the goal, in this case, being the satiation of our needs.
The wants that we talk about, however, are more volatile and dynamic than our needs, because our bare necessities to survive is sort of constant, but what we want to make our situations better and to improve the state we currently are in, physically, emotionally, or otherwise, can change just as we do, to the subjectivity of the situation we are in. Satisfying wants will have no end, and many people don’t know how to put a break in chasing their wants.
The satisfaction of needs is imperative for survival, but we have to be very careful when we choose the wants we want to begin satiating so that we don’t lose sight of what is necessary for sustaining ourselves.
Why do we consider food, shelter and clothing to be essential to survival?
To answer this question, let us first enlist the various adversities we face in the course of our life, and what it all eventually boils down to. Psychologist and theorist, Abraham Maslow, once attempted to arrange our needs in a hierarchical organisation and placed “physical needs” right at the bottom of the pyramid~ implying that physical needs, like nutrition and a roof over one’s head, are the primary requirements for sustenance. Subsequent levels of the pyramid include needs like emotional support and self-actualisation, but these have been subject to criticism and dissection. Maslow’s Pyramid has not been proven to be beyond dubitation, but the fact that physical needs are almost consistently considered to be the first in line has been almost universally accepted.
Physical needs are characterised by the need for physical security something one can sustain their bodies with. And under this umbrella fall the need for adequate food to satisfy the physiological reaction of hunger, the need for a home to protect oneself physically from the external environment, and the need for clothing, which, in civilised society, is a necessity.
All of this explains why roti, kapda and makaan are popularly considered to be the only prerequisites for sustenance. They are not the only things that one may want~ because, as we said, wants have no ends. But they might as well be what one can survive upon, even if they have nothing else.
Are food, shelter and clothing all me we need to survive?
In this context, this is something of a trick question. You see, some people are used to a lot more than just the bare necessities, in the course of living their life. A privilege often blinds us to the fact that survival is a lot simpler than living, and that while the process of enjoying life can be infinitely enhanced by chasing our wants, we need very little to sustain our mortal bodies.
So, food, shelter and clothing are not all we need to live our life happily, because different people derive their happiness from different things, and we really can not have a say about that. But, no matter where an individual’s happiness lies, the bare necessities like food, clothing and shelter will almost always be enough to make a human being survive~ give or take a few other subsistence needs, like medication for clinically diseased individuals.
What will future generations need for survival?
Now, more than ever, people have to understand that chasing the limitless wants that they may experience will not necessarily bring them the happiness they truly desire. It is high time that we stopped chasing our material desires that, In the long run, will mean very little, in comparison to the memories we leave behind. The future generations must realize that food, shelter, and clothing will be quite enough to sustain them physically, and securing these would be enough to ascertain that they will be able to sail through life without any major deprivations.
Owing to everything that has been happening in the world lately, we have solid evidence to support the idea that physical sustenance doesn’t demand a lot, and that it is enough to be thankful for. If the subsequent generations come to the realization that providing for one’s survival prerequisites, like food, clothing and shelter would be sufficient for survival, hopefully, they will be able to focus more of their energy into the pursuit of peace and happiness~ that can make the world a better place to live in.
Thank you.