I’m guessing you’ve noticed how life has become so complicated these days and how scarce simplicity has become.
That applies to almost everything, from the work-related to the recreational.
Dictionary.com defines simplicity as “the quality or condition of being plain or natural,” and “a thing that is plain, natural, or easy to understand.”
So if simple is natural, then the opposite must be unnatural – which is where we stand nowadays.
One of the things I find most troublesome is that there are too many choices.
For example, at the grocery store there’s an entire aisle of chips and another of breakfast cereal (which, by the way, are pretty much all void of nutritional value or any other worthwhile trait).
And how could anyone possibly take advantage of all of what’s available on television? It’s like your provider is a beach and the available selections are grains of sand.
You could add a myriad of things to the list, including vehicles, clothing, and on and on and on.
I wish we could go back to the times when the number of choices was manageable, and our minds didn’t start spinning when we attempt to consider what to buy, watch, eat and so much more.
I’m also not a fan of how much emphasis is being placed on technology, and it’s being relied upon as if life somehow depended on it.
The most glaring example is cellular phones, which – in my estimation – have become a “necessity” to too many people. My wife and I are often dismayed when we see a family sitting at a table in a restaurant and each member’s head is tilted downward looking at a screen.
And don’t get me started on “artificial intelligence.” I don’t see any benefit from treating AI the way it’s being treated now, as if it was going to be some sort of major boost to mankind.
More like a bust, if you ask me, because the potential ramifications are scary as heck, and I wish we didn’t have to deal with them (but I know we will).
And speaking of emphasis, I’m pretty sure there is too much being put on social media. I honestly don’t understand why it’s so important and is revered the way it is. If it disappeared, I wouldn’t miss it for an instant; but of course, that’s largely because I don’t use it.
Same goes for material possessions. They’re too important to too many people, and are often equated with status and happiness, while they actually have little to do with either.
Add it all up and the result in too many cases is increased stress. And while you don’t hear it said by “the authorities” often enough, stress is one of the biggest enemies of good health.
I’d say that the situation is not sustainable, and some form of simplicity will return at some point, one way or another. I’d also say that the best way to head back in that direction would be voluntarily in a collective realization rather than by necessity in a forced situation.
Sure, there’s a lot of money at stake in society’s current state of complication, but I just can’t help but think what a shame it is that money dictates so much of what shapes our lives.
Anyway, I’d love to see people put down the “devices,” turn off the electronics, cut down on the choices and simplify our lives.
Dictionary.com defines “simplify” as “make something simpler or easier to do or understand.”
Like life in general. It stands to reason that if things were “simpler or easier to do or understand,” then there would be less confusion and stress involved with going about our daily routines.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (a renowned American poet and educator in the 1800s) put it this way: “In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”
Famous Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci said, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Kong Fuzi (who is most often referred to as Confucius), the famous Chinese philosopher who lived about 2,500 years ago, more or less called out humanity regarding the subject by saying, “life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
I feel like a back-to-basics movement would be a good idea right about now. Otherwise, we’re likely to end up buried in a garbage heap of complication.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
