The Baseline Effect

The Baseline Effect: The key to happiness.

One property of human consciousness that does not appear to be very self evident to us

at first is the idea of 'baseline'

you see, everything that happens to us in our life that we can rate in any way is going

to be compared to our baseline. Our baseline is essentially composed of every single

memory of every event that has occurred in our life. If we lead poor miserable lives,

our baseline is going to be considerably low, however, if we lead incredibly successful

and very luxurious lives, our baseline is going to be set considerably higher.

What does that mean to you? Consider this: We always hear about spoiled rich people.

Really the entire concept of being 'spoiled' is because of this baseline. When you

get everything you want in life handed to you on a silver platter, you expect more of

the same to follow, and are subsequently incredibly disappointed when things don't go

exactly your way.

By that exact same token, those of us who are less fortunate take much more pleasure in

everyday normal things that seem a given to the privelaged. A good example would be a

poor person who cant afford food for their family finally getting an economically

stable family and being able to afford food. This family is able to derive happiness

if not bliss purely from the fact that they now have food. Most of us are unable to

truly appreceate food because we never have to go hungry.

So now we need to apply this principle to our states of consciousness. A person under

extreme emotional duress is going to feel INCREDIBLY releaved just to finally reach a

state that would be considered 'normal' by the majority of us. In fact, you can observe

first hand the effects of baseline, especially if yours has changed considerably over the

course of your life. The simplest way is to notice how much better it feels to eat

when you are incredibly hungry as opposed to when you are not, or to relax after a

serious bout of exercise, or even more commonly, to get home and relax after a long

hard day at work.

Make no mistake, relaxing at the end of the day is only 'relaxing' because it is much

less stressful in comparison to the baseline we have established by spending all day

at work. This is why relaxing after working all day is often way more satisfying than

spending a saturday relaxing all day.

The overall point to this? Do not strive for pleasure in your life 100% of the time or

you will set your expectations for this world far too high. You must strive for hardship

at times. What does this mean to you? It gives you a reason to work hard, to commit to

things and to persevere. It gives you a real reason to get up and go to work in the morning.

You arent just cultivating an income, but you are preserving your ability to be HAPPY.

So whether you are passing through an incredibly transitionary period in your life, or just

happy to see a loved one after months of separation, the baseline effect is constantly

effecting you. I would argue that it is the single most important aspect to human

consciousness.

just a few thoughts i typed up while at work, I thought you guys should be aware of this

because it really helps you understand your mind.

poor people are happy if you give them popcorn.

*stares at a blank wall with intense ambivalence*

  loganfive said:

poor people are happy if you give them popcorn.

and then they give you fleas

Guess someone's never heard of "rising expectations." If poor people see a rich person, they want to be rich, not just less poor.

Human beings can be some unappreciative, restless bastards.

I do agree with your central argument about happiness, however I think it's more rewarding to strive for contentment. Happiness is always fleeting.

i'd say happiness is just a longer period of contentment. virtually the same thing, the way i see it.

Not neccessarily. You can be content with suffering as long as you acknowledge its neccessity and transience.

i dont think its possible to be content with suffering

  Z_B_Z said:

i dont think its possible to be content with suffering

but what is suffering?

*smokes joint*

*ejaculates*

id answer that, but it seems like a pointless diversion.

  autopilot said:

Not neccessarily. You can be content with suffering as long as you acknowledge its neccessity and transience.

i don't agree - contentment is not based on rational evaluation.

  kokoon said:

  autopilot said:

Not neccessarily. You can be content with suffering as long as you acknowledge its neccessity and transience.

i don't agree - contentment is not based on rational evaluation.

although rational evaluation is probably an aspect of contentment

  lumpenprol said:

  Z_B_Z said:

i dont think its possible to be content with suffering

 

but what is suffering?

 

*smokes joint*

 

*ejaculates*

*bassline lowered to the minimum possible point*

  Z_B_Z said:

i dont think its possible to be content with suffering

I think it depends on your definition of 'suffering'.

Suffering within my original context essentially describes anything that is less than the baseline.

by that definition, everything from a mosquito bite to a life of misery qualifies as suffering.

Therefore, yeah I mean you can absolutely be content with a mosquito bite, as ned flanders once said, they sure are fun to scratch!

It comes down to where you, as an individual, draws the line subjectively. One could argue that they are content with a daily dismemberment and could not be disproven as it is an entirely subjective distinction.

I feel pretty happy when shooting up heroin, .

Never consciously strive for happiness. Strive for awareness and mindfulness. Happiness will just happen on its own after that.

Strive is such a weird word.

ok, so i barely read this thread. bassline= happiness?

  yek said:

ok, so i barely read this thread. bassline= happiness?

baseline dude

  ~ism said:

  lumpenprol said:

  Z_B_Z said:

i dont think its possible to be content with suffering

 

but what is suffering?

 

*smokes joint*

 

*ejaculates*

 

*bassline lowered to the minimum possible point*

20hz

just add alcohol

i'm experiencing heavy duty bassline nirvana right now. luke slater @ fuse is an epic showcase of skills in programming and track selection. i'm also skipping job today. called in sick. i just don't give a fuck.

yes, if you lose your keys and phone, dancing might make you happy

Benga always cheers me up

Baseline! (Ahh wicked!)

Put a donk on it.

Electro! (Ahh that is sick that mate!)

Put a donk on it.

Techno! (Ohhh that is good!)

Put a donk on it.

Ey, thats good that Tony!

Ahahah sick!

Baseline! (Where'd you learn that one)

Put a donk on it.

Electro! (Yeah i like that.)

Put a donk on it.

Techno! (That one's good.)

Put a donk on it.

Donk d-donk donk donk donk.