But, even in that case, it seems often the case that being emotionally healthy requires, among other things, you not to treat your emotional health as a necessary evil than you indulge.
Whether it typically requires it to the degree advocated by OP or Zvi is (a) probably false, on my basic perception, but (b) requires proper psychological research before drawing firm conclusions.
But for most people, there doesn’t seem to be a viable approach to integrating the obvious-implications-of-EA-thinking and the obvious-implications-of-living-healthily.
This is a crux, because IMO the way that the people who frequently write and comment on this topic seem to talk about altruism represents a much more neurotic response to minor moral problems than what I consider to be typical or desirable for a human being. Of course the people who feel anxiety about morality will be the ones who talk about how to handle anxiety about morality, but that doesn’t mean their points are valid recommendations for the more general population. Deciding not to have a mocha doesn’t necessarily mean stressing out about it, and we shouldn’t set norms and expectations that lead people to perceive it as such. It creates an availability cascade of other people parroting conventional wisdom about too-much-sacrifice when they haven’t personally experienced confirmation of that point of view.
If I think I shouldn’t have the mocha, I just… don’t get the mocha. Sometimes I do get the mocha, but then I don’t feel anxiety about it, I know I just acted compulsively or whatever and I then think “oh gee I screwed up” and get on with my life.
The problem can be alleviated by having shared standards and doctrine for budgeting and other decisions. GWWC with its 10% pledge, or Singer’s “about a third” principle, is a first step in this direction.
Whether it typically requires it to the degree advocated by OP or Zvi is (a) probably false, on my basic perception, but (b) requires proper psychological research before drawing firm conclusions.
This is a crux, because IMO the way that the people who frequently write and comment on this topic seem to talk about altruism represents a much more neurotic response to minor moral problems than what I consider to be typical or desirable for a human being. Of course the people who feel anxiety about morality will be the ones who talk about how to handle anxiety about morality, but that doesn’t mean their points are valid recommendations for the more general population. Deciding not to have a mocha doesn’t necessarily mean stressing out about it, and we shouldn’t set norms and expectations that lead people to perceive it as such. It creates an availability cascade of other people parroting conventional wisdom about too-much-sacrifice when they haven’t personally experienced confirmation of that point of view.
If I think I shouldn’t have the mocha, I just… don’t get the mocha. Sometimes I do get the mocha, but then I don’t feel anxiety about it, I know I just acted compulsively or whatever and I then think “oh gee I screwed up” and get on with my life.
The problem can be alleviated by having shared standards and doctrine for budgeting and other decisions. GWWC with its 10% pledge, or Singer’s “about a third” principle, is a first step in this direction.