From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   When a country gains more monetary wealth than it has had in the past, there   
   are two paths that it can take. One is known as economic growth - of money   
   being invested into producing real wealth; the path taken by America and   
   England during    
   Industrialization. The other is known as inflation - of the money losing its   
   value, things becoming more and more expensive, and the gain being squandered   
   - the path taken for example by Spain after it was inundated with gold from   
   Mesoamerica.    
      
   The same applies in human happiness. When state of affairs of any person   
   improves, the two paths possible are happiness growth and expectation   
   inflation.    
      
   In the first case, the person joyfully embraces the improvements and becomes a   
   happier person. Remaining grateful and appreciative for what he has that he   
   did not have previously, he exists in a happier mindstate. Any new   
   improvements are likewise met    
   joyfully and appreciatively. And the improvements are never taken for granted,   
   but are appreciated in each case, resulting in ever greater happiness of the   
   person.    
      
   In the case of expectation inflation, the person takes the new state of   
   affairs for granted and begins to expects it. Instead of becoming happier, he   
   requires more and more positive conditions to sustain the basic mental state.   
   Sense of entitlement grows,   
    requiring more and more to meet ever-growing expectations and making   
   happiness ever more remote. The improvements are inflated away to feed the   
   growing expectations. The demand grows out of control, necessities grow beyond   
   all measure, and more is    
   required to sustain basic level and more still for any level of happiness.    
      
   Both phenomena take place at the individual level as well as the collective.   
   The current state of existence of most people in the First World would have   
   been unthinkable to most people in history; and yet many take it for granted.   
   Frequently it becomes    
   worthwhile to show such people how life is elsewhere and how it has been   
   before they have sufficient appreciation to value the life that they have and   
   the efforts of hundreds of millions of people who made it possible. Only then   
   - when the overly-   
   inflated expectations are shown for the folly that they are - can people   
   develop the appreciative state of mind that is required for actual happiness.   
   It is then that happiness can grow. And then these same people can become   
   contributors to happiness of    
   their families and of their country.    
      
   For happiness of people at both individual and collective level, it is   
   necessary to encourage happiness growth and confront expectation inflation. In   
   this the good is not wasted but is appreciated, and is affectuated improvement   
   both in human condition    
   and in people's experience of life. And then it in fact becomes a worthwhile   
   endeavor to put in work to improve human condition, knowing that it will not   
   be taken for granted but rather benefit people, and will not be inflated away   
   into bloated sense of    
   entitlement but rather lead to happiness in people who live and are yet to   
   live.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)