Ease Is Not Lost, It Is Blocked by Optimization (Book-lenght Manuscript)

Ease Is Not Lost, It Is Blocked by Optimization proposes a structural account of why intense, self-sustaining joy becomes rare in adulthood, even though the capacity for it remains intact. Rather than treating joy as a mood, reward, or personality trait, the book identifies a specific permissive regime of experience, here called ease, defined by the temporary irrelevance of evaluative control.