How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.

which is summed up in the phrase “ Keeping up with the Joneses” is a frantic attempt to heap up as many “plus gestures ” as possible in order to impress the world with an outward show of power. The “ will to make-believe ” is one of the strongest forces in human nature. The strange thing is that so many really estimable and intelligent people, who contribute greatly to the common weal, spend most of their efforts trying to make an impression in a useless way. They do not realize that a quiet, smooth-running dynamo is immeasurably more powerful than a whole bag of fireworks. The superiority complex is comparable to the whistling of a small boy in a dark alley. It sounds very brave, but it does not destroy fear. If you have ever observed really superior human beings you will be impressed with their modesty and reticence, their keen appreciation of the responsibilities of their superiority. The inferior individual who wants to “ play big ” always betrays himself by the exaggeration of his gestures. The man with the superiority complex is the only one who is deluded by his array of “ plus gestures ”. Everyone else sees through the transparent structure of his psychic camouflage. Spurious superiority is betrayed by over-protestations of superiority. Everyone who is burdened with these super-compensations is really afraid that he will be overlooked. Men and women who have more than their share of timidity because of a sense of inferiority are frequently deceived by the impressive barrage of the individual with the superiority complex. In reality nothing is so easily deflated as the uneasy ego of the conceited. If you are annoyed by the boastful arrogance or the unmitigated conceit of someone with a superiority complex you need only demonstrate your knowledge of his underlying weakness to topple the unbalanced superstructure of his “ plus gestures ”. One of my patients, a wise and friendly woman, was driven to defences of a neurotic nature by the constant protestations of her husband’s power. These protestations took the form of long and oratorical lectures on the