“Luxury is artificial poverty, simplicity is natural wealth”

The simplest things in life are possibly the most difficult to achieve. I was recently watching a TV show, where someone shared this quote. I found it interesting. Let me illustrate this ,with a simple example.

Many of us resolve in the new year, to go for a walk every day ,to maintain good health. It is so simple ,since you do not need any equipment ,nor anyone’s help to do this. But, most of us fail within the month of January itself.

A daily walk is simple and natural way to maintain our health. On the other hand, if we do not do any exercise every day and end up being over weight, we may be advised to go for a bariatric surgery to reduce unnecessary body weight, which is artificial and against nature and we may call it artificial poverty to reduce our weight.

Life is not very different. If we look back at our forefathers, they lived a simple life and were healthy, wealthy and wise. Today, we have all the technology in the world . In India, the middle class is prospering and have all the comforts of life. But our children are becoming obese and people in their forties ,are getting heart related diseases.

I am a great fan of technology and how it can make life more comfortable, for mankind. Even the latest fad of Artificial Intelligence (AI) can definitely make our lives more comfortable and predictable. But when we tend to make technology as the end in itself, rather than the means to an end, we end up struggling in life.

We need to continually invent new technologies and be in control of the outcomes ,for the welfare of mankind. However, if we allow technology to dictate our lives and become a victim of the same, then we may have to face the ill consequences of it.

Let me illustrate this with another simple example. The mobile phone is ubiquitous today. Most of us will find it difficult to survive without it . It enables us to remain connected with family and friends. It works like a watch/clock, calculator, GPS, bank and even as AI assistant, for all our questions in life.

However, if we stop having good conversations with our family members/friends and restrict communication to whatsapp or social media exchanges, it could lead to broken families and friendships.

Emails, whatsapp and social media do not have emotions, but people do. So, when we exchange messages through these media, many a time,we may hurt feelings of others or get hurt by others ,without any intent to do so. When two human beings interact face to face, such misunderstandings are minimised ,since you are able to clarify to each other ,based on the reaction of the other person.

We do not visit family or friends ,when they are in distress. We are happy to send them bouquets and smiley through social media. A person in distress ,may need a hug or someone to talk to. But, we do not realise the same, unless we ourselves are personally in distress.

Let us learn to simplify our lives and go back to basics.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th July 2025