From Guest to Master: How Comfort Controls Your Life
Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master?
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Undoubtedly, each one of us requires a certain level of comfort to survive. There is no denying that. Fresh water, nutritious food, and shelter are the basics.
In addition to these, access to medical supplies, hospitals, infrastructure, education, and opportunity enable us to transition from mere survival to building a life in the modern world.
Presume that we have all that. Yet, the WHO estimates that 280 million people suffer from depression.
Is our relentless pursuit of comfort breaking our human spirit ? Have we become strangers in our own nature ?
Kahlil Gibran’s beautiful writing doesn’t question the fundamental concept of comfort, but rather highlights the peril of allowing comfort to dominate our spirit.
Comfort initially enters our minds as a guest, serving the essential purpose of ensuring our physical well-being, allowing us to protect and nourish our bodies.
We do benefit from comfort at this stage, but our minds retain their freedom to thrive.
However, as we indulge in increasing levels of comfort, it inevitably begins to occupy more and more space within us, transitioning from a guest to the host of our existence, if not yet the master.
Now, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with seeking happiness in safety, a predictable, sedentary lifestyle, or a routine. You can coexist with comfort, allowing it to be the host, as long as you retain mastery over your own mind.
Slavery dwells beneath marble and gold.
-Seneca
Interestingly, Gibran’s writing is rooted in the teachings of the Stoics. Seneca spoke about opulence and greed corrupting the human spirit, turning the free into the slave.
In a similar vein, Gibran asserts that when you allow comfort to dictate your choices, you become enslaved to this dependency, with comfort replacing you as the master and convenience becoming your addiction.
When you allow yourself to become vulnerable to dependency, you strengthen the muscles of comfort and convenience, instead of nurturing the freedom of your mind.
Ask yourself if you can live without all your possessions. Are you the master of the things that surround you? Are you in charge ?
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