Problems with boredom

It is apparent that boredom affects us all. In a way boredom could be described as the instigator to all the human behavior that cannot be explained by the Darwinist since of inherited survival leftovers. (That’s what I call them anyway.) Music for example, that aspiration for controlling sound waves in a neat comfortable order, that in itself opens up doorways to all kinds of mingling behavioral science. Now you can critique your peers sound manipulations and sort them into genre’s, sub-genre’s, classics, post psychedelic hip hop eras …whatever. Why do I need to know that Henry Rollands was an ok comedian but Id rather listen to black flag any day? Why do I need to try to conceive the 11 dimensions of string theory in order to survive?
I feel these kinds of aspirations are needed to understand what it is to be, not only human, but consciously aware in general. I believe in evolution. I believe in “god.” More importantly I believe in myself. I believe in my race. I see war, I see a lot of boredom, but I also see all this great music that comes out of it …and art …and conversations …optimistic debate. Being alive is strange, it’s confusing, and it might be a good idea to try and not think you know it all, and deal with this boredom the most beautiful way possible. If you do that then you conquer the boredom. In fact, it was never boredom, it was just being F#&$ing awesome before you kicked the dirt given the circumstances.

reply to post by BrundleFly


I believe that boredom is a by-product of having a higher mind. My boredom stints are few and far between. Being a primate, one of the lucky ones I suppose, I've found myself self employed doing what I've always loved to do. It only becomes work when it becomes irritating.
We really don't have to know a lot of facts and details to survive. Our ancestors managed to do it throughout what had to be some of the most terrifying times in human pre-history. On one hand, I cannot imagine the concept of not knowing what a star is, or what the sun is, the process in which birds fly or fish extract oxygen from water - yet on the other hand to imagine what it must have been like after a successful hunt with everyone sitting around the fire watching with wonder as the hunters spun the stories of the hunt, and the kill seem quite exciting to experience, at least once. What did they do in times of boredom? Whereas we peruse the internet to further whatever interests we may hold - they most likely engaged in storytelling, tool making, refinement of hunting skills....who knows. It's true that our more advanced knowledge allows us to enjoy fuller, longer lives - by no means am I saying we should regress.
At times, our boredom can unlock the power of our creative nature; It can also reveal the brutish nature of our inner beast. Our search for knowledge, and study of the cosmos has shown us that there is still much to be learned, and that we as a species are still in our infantile state. For those of you who accept evolution, it took nearly 4.5 billion years (give or take) for us to arrive in our current state from our scummy (pun intended) ancestors. Provided that we survive this experience of "ourselves", our future descendants (a couple million years from now) might look back on us and wonder how in the blazes we managed to pull through with our weak minds and lack of knowledge, compared to theirs.

The OP said "Being alive is strange, it’s confusing, and it might be a good idea to try and not think you know it all, and deal with this boredom the most beautiful way possible. If you do that then you conquer the boredom. In fact, it was never boredom, it was just being F#&$ing awesome before you kicked the dirt given the circumstances."

Being alive IS strange - it IS confusing, it's perplexing and at the same time overwhelmingly thrilling. Not only would it be a good idea to not think you know it all, that's one of the BEST attitudes to take towards it. We don't HAVE to fight, we don't HAVE to steal, we don't HAVE to hurt each other. One of the most beautiful things we can do is to use our resources and time to enrich other peoples lives for no other reason than we WANT to.
The OP should get his own bumper sticker produced "Before you kick it, be F***ing AWESOME"

I like your post, very eloquent.

The only thing I can think to add is this quote from a Terry Pratchett book.

* Do you know what it feels like to be aware of every star, every blade of grass? Yes. You do. You call it "opening your eyes again." But you do it for a moment. We have done it for eternity. No sleep, no rest, just endless... endless experience, endless awareness. Of everything. All the time. How we envy you, envy you! Lucky humans, who can close your minds to the endless deeps of space! You have this thing you call... boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song — it went "Twinkle twinkle little star...." What power! What wondrous power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace of unimaginable strength, and turn it into a little song for children! You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!

reply to post by sykickvision


hey, thanks. You let me smile. thanks again.

reply to post by davespanners


what is the name of that book?

Its called A Hat Full Of Sky.
It's written for a younger audience then his usual books, but I like all of them
link

How is anyone ever bored these days? Hundreds of channels on television, movies and shows on demand. Video games. The Internet. Heck, even just going Christmas Shopping. Not to mention all the things to do if you want to go out and do something.

Should have tried living back in the days before all of this stuff. Most of it all came about when I was just growing up. I remember when we had about 5 channels, and cable was something my "rich" friends had, hehe...

Oh, and there have pretty much always been BOOKS.... Talk about escapism. Great story telling fused with one's imagination...??? No better entertainment than that.