One of the most remarkable of the traits of man is the restless
advancement of desire,--and consequently the never-ending search for
contentment. What we look upon as a goal is never more than a rung in
the ladder, and pressure of one kind or another always forces us on to
further weary climbing.

This is based on a great psychological law. If you put your hand in warm
water it _feels_ warm only for a short time, and you must add still
warmer water to renew the stimulus. Or else you must withdraw your hand.
The law, which is called the Weber-Fechner Law, applies to all of our
desires as well as to our sensations. To appreciate a thing you must
lose it; to reach a desire's gratification is to build up new desires.

This is to be emphasized in the case of the housewife, but with this
additional factor: that how one reacts to being a housewife depends on
what one expects out of life and housekeeping. If one expects little out
of life, aside from being a housewife, then there is contentment. If one
expects much, demands much, then the housewife's lot leads to
discontent.

What is disagreeable is not a fixed thing, except for pain, hunger,
thirst, and death. The disagreeable is the balked desire, the obstructed
wish, the offended taste. It is a main thesis of this book that the
neurosis of the housewife has a large part of its origin in the
increasing desires of women, in their demands for a fuller, more varied
life than that afforded by the lot of the housewife. Dissatisfaction,
discontent, disgust, discouragement, hidden or open, are part of the
factors of the disease. Furthermore there is an increasing sensitiveness