Total Dark Sublime
Sunday, September 29
Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total dark sublime, Though this might take me a little time. - The More Loving One
I often find myself thinking about the hedonic treadmill — the observed tendency of humans to generally return to a stable “baseline happiness,” even after good or bad events in their life.
I don't think Auden is wrong here. All of the stars in the night sky could dissapear, and we’d find it just as beautiful (after a bit of time). That’s the hedonic treadmill at work.
Is there any wisdom in this? Well, most obviously, it’s observational confirmation of the adage that this too shall pass.