  We argue that the discrepancy between the Planck mass scale and the observed
value of the cosmological constant can be largely attenuated if those
quantities are understood as a result of effective, and thus scale-dependent,
couplings. We exemplify this mechanism for the early inflationary epoch of the
universe by solving the corresponding effective gap equations, subject to an
energy condition. Several non-trivial checks and extensions are discussed. A
comparison of our results to the renormalization group flow, obtained within
the asymptotic safety program reveals a stunning agreement.
