No set of surroundings could be said to be absolutely bad or completely useless or damaging. If a mind is not able to take advantage of the surroundings, it is its own weakness that makes it unable to do so.
For example, a man is sitting in a room that is filthy, full of dust and dirt. If his mind is grounded in contentment, joyfulness, peace, and happiness he radiates those qualities around him and does not pay attention to the dirt and dust.
It is the inner status of the mind that is responsible for making a man joyful or miserable. In the man’s joyfulness and contentment he begins to sweep up the room and wipes off the dust and, in doing so, he takes delight because he is in such good harmony with the surroundings.
If a man is sad and tense, however, and finds the room dirty, he just adds to the tension and his mood grows worse. He becomes more and more tense because of the condition of the room, and he thinks that it is its filthiness that has made him more miserable and tense. But it is not so. It is the misery of his mind that has multiplied itself while being reflected from the particles of dust in the room. Had he been joyful, the joyfulness would have reflected from the dust of the room.