Thursday 24 November 2011

How the buzz of altruism quickly fades

I buy a lot of stuff on ebay. No matter how small most purchases I make also have a pound donated to whatever cause pops up.

I don't feel good about it. It's just routine.

I am good with my money if I'm spending on ebay. I don't get the same pleasure of a shop purchase or something new. Second hand stuff is new to me of course. I don't get what I want a lot of the time. Most of my purchases serve a function.

I would shop in charities shops if I had the chance but they're poorly stocked in suitable mens clothing or the other things like electronics. I don't sell on ebay and give my stuff away to charity shops or people. I've given away lenses, slr cameras, filters, flashes and all sorts of stuff rather than sell on ebay.

None of this ethical living and buying makes me feel good. At some point it must have done. At some point I must have changed my buying habits not just because of becoming much poorer but also because it made me feel better to be a more ethical shopper.

It was the same with being vegetarian for a while. For a little bit it was hard but also made me feel more conscionable. Then I got used to it and it didn't feel good or bad.

This is a property of the human mind. It gets used to things. An established psychological effect called the hedonic treadmill shows how changes in life and life events cause a short lived change but the person quickly returns to their natural state or cycle.

An essential part of our reality process is the dismissal of regular information. For example, if you're sitting down you'll probably not be thinking about the feeling of the chair against your bum. Now I've mentioned it your consciousness might unlock the awareness of the physical contact but without the focus of the mind's eye we forget. This is necessary to consciousness because it is part of the streamlining of all the sensory and cognitive data to allow real time consciousness to work.

Perhaps this basic effect becomes part of our higher functions, an emotions and states of well being. Our feelings and our thoughts.

Perhaps we get used to stuff which is regular because without it we'd be going "wow! Sliced bread!" all the time or something. We'd be looking at everything with fresh eyes. All that we did, all that we feel and experience.

I have no idea if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

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About Me

We It comes in part from an appreciation that no one can truly sign their own work. Everything is many influences coming together to the one moment where a work exists. The other is a begrudging acceptance that my work was never my own. There is another consciousness or non-corporeal entity that helps and harms me in everything I do. I am not I because of this force or entity. I am "we"