[davidhalter]

I agree that this is where it is likely going to go. I have also found my peace about that a while ago. On a personal level I also don't believe that giving up big cars, flying and other things is something that nobody is doing. There are quite a few people that avoid such things, including me.

I feel like you underestimate the energy that sacrifice releases. I also feel like you don't have children. Because if you did a sentence like "you know you're going to be dead before the end of the century, right?" would probably not be what you were thinking. Exactly when you have something to lose (the life of your children and grand children), it generates a desire to change this miserable state that the world is in. This is not a depressed or negative state. It's the opposite. It feel like diving into the issues of the world and not looking away.

And I think the injunction to "Enjoy!" is exactly what's wrong with the world and what leads you away from inner peace. This is what psycho analysts have discovered quite a while ago and what religious people are able to avoid by having higher goals than your own enjoyment. My own experience with this is that since I have given up trying to enjoy my life and I'm trying to wrestle with my own negativity, life is better.