Why Abundance Breeds Emotional Numbness And Quiet Apathy In Modern Life |
The story of the golden goose has endured for centuries because it describes a timeless human weakness. We usually interpret it as a warning against greed: don’t destroy a long-term source of value for short-term gain. Fair enough. But in modern life, we are not killing the goose with a knife. We are killing it with hugs. We are smothering it with excess. We are loving it to death. And the end result is not rage or rebellion but virakti; a quiet state of non-indulgence, emotional withdrawal, and deep apathy.
From experience to addiction
Most human engagements follow a predictable path. Something begins as an experience. The experience becomes a taste. The taste turns into a habit. The habit slowly mutates into dependence. And dependence, with enough time and ease, becomes addiction. This is true for substances, but it is equally true for films, music, sports, shopping, social media, and even relationships. At the start, the experience is voluntary and fresh. There is curiosity, discovery, and emotional charge. Over time, familiarity creeps in. Familiarity becomes expectation. Expectation becomes entitlement. And entitlement quietly becomes boredom.
Psychology already explains this through ideas like ‘hedonic adaptation’ and ‘diminishing returns’, but you don’t need textbooks to understand it. Your own life is proof. The first bite of dessert feels heavenly. The fifth bite feels okay. The tenth bite feels heavy. The twentieth bite makes you swear off sweets for a week. Pleasure........