Returning to Baseline
Life is unfair. It has never been completely just and it will continue to be harsh and unbalanced. We humans have always despised this fact to the point that we like to believe that this is not the case. It is so prevalent in fact that it is a well documented phenomenon — the just world fallacy.
With that being said, how do people cope? Some people turn to religion. Some just don’t think about it and shut it out. Some accept this fact but become miserable as a result. Today I offer another alternative.
Humans are always looking to change things. That is the one defining characteristic of our species. We can not sit still. Even if everything is going perfectly and life is very stable, we still seek out novelty and new stuff. While this can lead to people pulling themselves out of a rut, it can also lead to a destruction of a perfectly normal and happy lifestyle.
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Happiness is a fickle thing. It really doesn’t matter what happens in your life. Be it happy or sad, the event will move you temporarily before you go back to your baseline level of happiness. This means in some sense it truly doesn’t matter what your present circumstances are.
For example, the A-list celebrity can have a minor drop in fame and feel like the sky is falling on them. On the other hand, the starving peasant will bless the lords for a simple shower of rain. You see it all the time. There is a reason many times people at the top of their status hierarchy end up turning to alcohol or even hard drugs. They are the apex predator in their domain and have no where else to go for new thrills.
What this ultimately means is that on some level no one is truly happy. Don’t get me wrong, I rather be rich than a pauper but intellectually one can recognize neither gives the lasting happiness one craves. No matter who a person is, once the bare minimum of standards are maintained, everyone has the same slim shot at stable satisfaction.
That said, getting rid of desire and the need for more is never going away. It is biologically programmed into you. Even the most hardcore of Buddhist monks struggle from time to time. So it is a constant battle to make sure one feels content with life. However if you feel that other people don’t have a head start over you it makes it a whole lot easier. I believe this way of thinking will help you move in that direction.
If you’d like to learn more about this concept, I recommend you read about hedonic adaptation. Till next week!
