What is the Hedonic Treadmill?
The "Hedonic Treadmill" (also known as hedonic adaptation) is a theory in psychology proposing that humans eventually return to a stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative life changes.
The theory suggests that just as you walk on a treadmill but go nowhere, your emotional state eventually adapts to any new stimulus, such a new car, a delicious meal, or a pay rise, and the joy fades into boredom or neutrality. It implies that lasting happiness from external sources is impossible.
But what happens when we introduce the Third Field, the reality of Energy, into the equation?
Experiment 1: The Power of Conscious Attention
Goal: To determine if consciousness and the ability to move energy are sufficient to overcome the sensory entropy of similar stimuli over time. I wanted to challenge the Hedonic Treadmill theory, which dictates that all repetitive exposures to positive phenomena will eventually turn neutral; that you will "get used to them" and get bored.
The Setup: The plan was to consume the exact same thing for breakfast for two weeks, mindfully savouring flavour and texture. I would give thanks for the meal, thinking of how much went into making it, being grateful to the farmers who put in the work, and offering thanks to the Creative Source for the opportunity to enjoy such a treat.
The Experience: During the two-week period, every morning around 7:30 AM, a simple rice bran, supplemented protein shake was consumed.
Every time I drank it, as time went by, I felt no decrease in taste, texture, or smell enjoyment. In fact, all three became much more vivid and enjoyable! My cravings for such a meal began to increase so that now I am still eating it for breakfast every day, even though the experiment is over.
In a nutshell: the shake tasted better every day. I am still enjoying it post-experiment as my little gratitude exercise every morning.
Conclusion: The Hedonic Treadmill is a fabrication of materialistic reductionism. It only works in a material universe where energy is ignored. Therefore, I conclude that consciousness itself and energy as the moving by-product of consciousness, are the true roots of lasting happiness.
Experiment 2: A Refutation of Nihilism
Premise: Modern materialistic philosophy has left man devoid of meaning. We are taught that "meaning does not exist," and as such, people have entered a form of "Meaning Scurvy." They are dying from a lack of meaning, from a lack of love.
One of the symptoms is the feeling of "Great Nothingness"—that life is one great void. However, with simple logic and energy work, this can be refuted. The very venom of nihilism can be transformed into the medicine of meaning.
The Experiments: Take the feeling of "nothing" and locate it in the body. Show it with your hands. Then point at it and ask: "If nothing is nothing, and nothing is real, what am I pointing at?"
You will rapidly find that you can feel something; perhaps similar to a cold aching in your body.
Then, you can do the intellectual part.
Use your imagination to find the "Great Nothing," talk to it, and ask it what it will take to make it go away. When it talks back, you know that the "Great Void" is actually something. Because it is something, it can be interacted with, flowed through, and evolved.
Conclusion: With these simple exercises of body and logic, one finds that "nothing" is not real. If you can speak of "nothing," you are talking about something. Therefore, it is a force that can be interacted with.
By logical following: if "nothing" is real and can be interacted with, then a loss of meaning is actually caused by something (an energy blockage or state), which means meaning is real. With one fell stroke, you have destroyed nihilism and opened yourself to the pursuit of meaning all at the same time!
Larkin Fouse
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