Frugality

At its core, frugality is a process of optimisation - getting adequate bang for your buck, as it were. Frugality is not deprivation, it is the balance between gluttony and asceticism - enjoying yet not wasting.

Is frugality a virtue? There are those who claim the heavenly state is one of opulence and superabundance, with no need of careful husbandry of resources. If a spiritual mode of production (so to speak) eliminates all scarcity, then what need is there for frugality?

In any case, frugality is not an end in itself. It is merely a means to whittle down the concern with goods and services to an elegantly managed level.

Perhaps frugality is also a preparatory, creative process to train us in higher modes of production. Perhaps we need to learn to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse before we can turn water into wine.