I stumbled across this quote again today, which I have highlighted and re-highlighted in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star:
“…luxury is the enemy of observation, a costly indulgence that induces such a good feeling that you notice nothing. Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world. That is its purpose, the reason why luxury cruises and great hotels are full of fatheads who, when they express an opinion, seem as though they are from another planet.”
I would actually para-para-phrase this as:
“Luxury is a way of secretly insulating yourself from the fact that all good things, including you, must age, decay, and ultimately end.”