The Poverty of the Rich

I am a firm believer of the fact that our entire moral compass is a function of the times, and thus be extension, the society that we live in. Continuing on the same lines, so many of our thoughts, ideas, dogmas, beliefs are just so ingrained in us, ever since our childhood, that we spend our lifetimes without even, forget questioning them but even thinking about them. I read something today morning that made me not only question a very simple concept, but also see it in a whole new light. The concept of poverty.

What is your definition of poverty dear readers? I will first share mine. Not having enough. Having very little. Struggling to make ends meet. Just few of the phrases that would come to my mind if you were to ask me to try and define poverty. And I am willing to bet that most, if not all, of you readers would have also come up with similar answers.

As the regular readers of this blog know, we have been visiting the works of Seneca in the recent months and trying to gain some financial wisdom. And it was while revisiting his works that I found myself changing my mindset about poverty. Seneca quotes Epicurus and states 

"Contended poverty is an honorable estate. Indeed, if it be contented, it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."

I was so impressed by these lines, I found myself reading them again a couple of times. I would suggest you readers to also do the same. Being from a developing country, you come across poverty everyday and by no means, do I want to undermine their condition. But what these lines did was made me expand my definition of poverty. Hence, the title of the post. The Poverty of the Rich.

More on Seneca as applied to finance:

How much money is enough? 

The Power of Negative Thinking