The Economy of Permanence: A Quest for a Social Order Based on Non-violence (स्थायी अर्थतन्त्र)

Economy of Permanence
he possesses- Oxford shoes being expensive. Such maybe an eyesore to the
wholehogger but it must be admitted he is more original than the pure imi-
tator. Such persons are only much works of art as the cheap lithographic we
find pasted on stocks of mill-cloth. They have the will-power to pick and
choose, but lack the sense of perspective to create anything complete and
whole, or are too lazy to do so. Such patchwork, as they may accomplish, is
bound to be transient and their eagerness to obtain quickly what they want is
sure to lead into paths of violence.
The House of material Creations: According to the Law of the Economy of
Enterprise we would expect that in this house every individual will assert
himself and lead his own life regardless of what may be the lot of others
following the maxim. "Every man for himself and the devil take the
hindermost". They would be expected to have original ideas which will be
translated into life for their own selfish benefit. This would imply that every
person would be free to express himself in his daily mode of living.
Unfortunately, the world today is under the heels of producers who have power
to lay down the way their consumers should live. Hence the freedom of choice
and the faculty of the consumer have been neutralized and rendered
ineffective.
In France, the beauty specialist will proclaim that the fashion of the day is to
have butterflies painted on the bare backs and which are to be exposed to the
gaze of admirers. Unquestioningly the aspiring females will resort to the beauty
parlours, don their bathing costumes and have butterflies painted on their un-
complaining backs, and repair to the sea resorts of the Riviera to exhibit their
backs to the stupefied public.
Again, in Western clothes and feminine fashions Paris leads the world. London
imitates these and probably commercialises the modes, while New York may
adopt these to its needs and standardize them.
Standardization in the West has killed all originality of the consumer in his
mode of life. People are mainly concerned with what others will think of them
if they departed from the universal set mode of life. Even the life in the home
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