In America, and in much of the world, people are often judged not by the quality of their lives or the happiness of their existence, but by the size of their apartment or house or the quality of their car.

You are worth only as much as you make at your job. You are a salary, a number, a size, a square footage. You are in competition with all the other rats in a neverending race towards material comfort.

We all want to be famous and rich and whoever is not is just a big failure.

We all want more space to put more stuff and we want it air conditioned. God forbid we should be uncomfortable for a moment. God forbid we should think about the high cost of living large.

We want food and more food and we want it now. We want drugs and more drugs and we want them now.

We have no patience, no perspective, no appreciation for how wealthy we are in the west. We want big, nice, fast cars. We want land and more land. We want space to fill the emptiness in our souls.

We want money and more money and more money. One can never have enough money to satisfy the hungry, empty, ghosts we are. We want nice clothes, pretty jewelry, and expensive electronics.

We want computers and speakers and music and movies and art and food and clothes and jewelry and all the things that will never fill the great gaping psychological hole that these things are meant to fill. What about LOVE and JOY and HAPPINESS?

There is nothing wrong with wanting more but to begin to think that we actually need more space and comfort than will provide us with a life sustaining environment, is nothing more than ignorance and narcisssism.

When the difference between what we want and what we need becomes larger and larger, we become spoiled and ignorant of the conditions for happiness. What about LOVE and JOY and HAPPINESS?

Things do not bring about joy- People and experiences do. The square footage of a home has no functional relation to the happiness of a home. A home is anywhere one feels comfortable and safe. Space is a luxury that not everyone can afford. Better to be poor and live with love in a small home than be rich and live with hatred, ignorance, and bickering in a luxury abobe. What about LOVE and JOY and HAPPINESS?

A loving, generous family who lives in a trailer is better off than a mean, bitter, bickering family who lives in a twenty room mansion. What about LOVE and JOY and HAPPINESS?

Things have nothing to do with happiness. I have met miserable millionaires and billionaires. I have also met miserable poor people. I have met the happy rich and the happy poor. Money and material wealth have absolutely nothing to do with happiness.

Be greatful to have a roof over your head, food in your belly, and a warm bed to sleep in because a lot of people in this world do not. American arrogance and stupidity leads us to take for granted all the luxuries we enjoy.

We get fat and bloated around our waists and between our ears because we overindulge in everything.

What about LOVE and JOY and HAPPINESS?