Royal....pudding...rich rich rich with flavor

An interesting point was made today in a book I am reading for my project. One triabl legend held that the Great Spirit created white men and Indians. The Indian was given a stone of silver and the white man was given a stone of rock. The white man cast away the rock, having no use for it, while the Indian did the same with the silver. The white man seized the silver and valued it fow the goods it could bring him while the Indian treasured the rock for the spiritual power it could give him. As time went on the Indian learned to value the material value of silver yet did not lose his grasp on the spiritual power of the stone. The white man, however, never learned the potential held by the stone.
This dichotomy was meant to be representative of white society today...and by extension, to explain the dominant paradigm in the U.S. Many people try to gain happiness through what they have. However, true happiness can never come from without. It must come from within, from a happiness of the soul that no amount of money or fame can purchase.
Meeker, a famed agent who planned to "civilize" the "savages" by teaching them to farm and value possessions never understood this concept. I suppose I should feel badly that he was massacred...and in this case, it was an attack on unarmed, unprepared people...but he brought it on himself and was directly responsible for the approach of the soldiers who intended to illegally move the Native Americans off the land promised them forever when he was killed, so I guess it kind of balances out.
The upshot is, if you are happy with what you have now and happen to get a little more, you will probably still be happy. But if you are unhappy with what you have more and gain still more, you will not gain happiness but rather a desire for more possessions.
I do not know that I believe rocks and stones have spiritual power, but I do know they can't give happiness.