spiritual roadtrip continued

i like it when i find smart sounding stuff that validates
how i feel ... it's an "i told you so" sort of thing ....
i must have seen this road sign on my path, i know
i went this direction in my youth ... i made a conscious
choice some 50 yrs ago .... in this life, i decided to

* go for the fun
* go for the happiness
* go for the laughter, real gut busters
* go for becoming the best person possible
* read between the lines, search for the truth
* make things beautiful, embellish, decorate, tease and please the eye

another conscious choice was to turn away from
* the idea of acquiring wealth
* the goal of amassing material possessions
* the seeking of power/authority over others

somehow i realized early that my idea of a "successful" person
was a creatively fulfilled, endlessly curious, excited-about-ordinary-life
person ...

here is something i found today, which seems to tie some
of these ideas together for me, and maybe explains some
of my why's and what if's

Quote :

Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish.

In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest."

"We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it's the same story," he said. "Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it."

here is source, article is kinda buried in the health section:
The rich are different - and not in a good way, studies suggest
http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/article_hlth.aspx?aid=44084236&afid=1