The Creator has provided each being with a changing threshold of sensitivity, so that all people on this Earth suffer more or less equally. If a person lives amidst poverty and deprivation, for example, during a war, in prison, in overcrowded areas of Asian countries, in hard labor, amidst garbage and foul odors, huddled in a shack with 10-15 neighbors, then the threshold of sensitivity changes in such a way that they do not notice it and become accustomed to such conditions, considering them normal.

However, for the pampered inhabitants of the West, sensitivity increases. For them, an unpleasant dream, a sideways glance from an employee, a 10-minute delay in transportation, and other trivialities that a person living in difficult conditions simply does not notice can become a tragedy.

After a bad night’s sleep, a Western resident may go to a psychiatrist, seeking psychological assistance. Many people end up in psychiatric hospitals and live with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Even a millionaire took his own life when he went bankrupt, still having $2,000,000 left.

Suicide is much more common among people living in luxury than among the impoverished.

Therefore, improving one’s standard of living, wealth, and luxury cannot provide the desired happiness. A person quickly becomes accustomed to the good things and continues to suffer, perhaps even more so than when living in need and deprivation. This is because the absence of a struggle for survival makes them weaker and more vulnerable.

True happiness can only be achieved by mastering one’s state of mind, being able to consciously detach from negative emotions, overcoming the falsehood that triggers them, and having the ability to evoke elevated emotions that can fill one’s life with meaning and make them happy.

All negative emotions are based on selfishness, which is the main reason that causes a person to feel unhappy. 

The more a person thinks and worries about themselves, the worse they feel, and the harder it becomes to live. They fall into the illusion that everything around them is not as it should be and is designed to make them suffer.

When a person lives for others and does not think about themselves, they feel very good because the main cause of suffering – self-concern – disappears.