Hedonic adaptation will ruin me.
It may have been useful for an evolutionary purpose but I believe the whole concept of aligning oneself to a state of happiness leads to a state of contentment leading to stagnation, lack of motivation to do additional work and hence, to reduction in efficiency of work done. Simply said, the happier you become with any given scenario-- regardless of your initial emotional response to being in it-- the lesser you try to change it. It is indeed wonderful for people who have traveled far and wide to reach heaven on land, but for someone who has plummeted down to the fiery depths of hell, growing accustomed to, and then liking the surroundings is being in one bad state indeed. The hell guy would then stop trying to claw his way out of the inferno, as now due to the great Hedonic, he is totally okay with being baked to death.Not only that, but hedonic adaptation also ensures that people sink back to their normal, baseline happiness. This ensures that regardless of the positive or negative feedback people receive, the want for more never ceases to exist. This is great, except it doesn't take into account complacency (read: laziness) of human beings. So not only is the hell guy in hell, it's bad news for the heaven on land people, who will forget to marvel at the multiple rainbows or the upside down fountains, but will then dream about Valhalla.
Unless I have it all wrong.
Stability inspires peace and contentment. Perhaps my ideas of contentment causing lack of ambition are ill advised--maybe in a calm, meditative state, people can focus their energies towards a singular entity, dreaming it, thinking it, breathing it-- living it.
This incorporeal singularity then mates with the physical being itself--entwining thoughts harmoniously to a different dimension all together-- actions, the more rudimentary aspect of human life.
In all the rationale I have put forth, it then doesn't seem very far-fetched for people to be entirely convinced of the existence of beings greater than themselves-- or for that matter, man's ability to become one of such level of superiority.
Hedonic adaptation: the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.
It may have been useful for an evolutionary purpose but I believe the whole concept of aligning oneself to a state of happiness leads to a state of contentment leading to stagnation, lack of motivation to do additional work and hence, to reduction in efficiency of work done. Simply said, the happier you become with any given scenario-- regardless of your initial emotional response to being in it-- the lesser you try to change it. It is indeed wonderful for people who have traveled far and wide to reach heaven on land, but for someone who has plummeted down to the fiery depths of hell, growing accustomed to, and then liking the surroundings is being in one bad state indeed. The hell guy would then stop trying to claw his way out of the inferno, as now due to the great Hedonic, he is totally okay with being baked to death.Not only that, but hedonic adaptation also ensures that people sink back to their normal, baseline happiness. This ensures that regardless of the positive or negative feedback people receive, the want for more never ceases to exist. This is great, except it doesn't take into account complacency (read: laziness) of human beings. So not only is the hell guy in hell, it's bad news for the heaven on land people, who will forget to marvel at the multiple rainbows or the upside down fountains, but will then dream about Valhalla.
Unless I have it all wrong.
Stability inspires peace and contentment. Perhaps my ideas of contentment causing lack of ambition are ill advised--maybe in a calm, meditative state, people can focus their energies towards a singular entity, dreaming it, thinking it, breathing it-- living it.
This incorporeal singularity then mates with the physical being itself--entwining thoughts harmoniously to a different dimension all together-- actions, the more rudimentary aspect of human life.
In all the rationale I have put forth, it then doesn't seem very far-fetched for people to be entirely convinced of the existence of beings greater than themselves-- or for that matter, man's ability to become one of such level of superiority.
Hedonic adaptation: the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.
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