Earlier today I saw the title of an article that stated that, despite people today having access to an ever-expanding selection of all kinds of media and entertainment, and despite steadily increasing levels of consumption of digital media and entertainment, people are continuously finding themselves more and more bored with life. Now, I didn’t actually read the article, so take whatever I have to say about it with a grain of salt; like I said, I just read the title while I was scrolling on Reddit, and these are really just general ideas on the issue, that were inspired by my reading of that article title. I’m definitely a victim of boredom as well, since I know there are a million other things I’d rather be doing, and that I should and could be doing, at any given moment rather than scrolling on any social media app, yet there I was, scrolling away. Anyway, what the title of the study suggests really doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me, to be honest. We have created so many interesting things, from objects to apps, to ideas and languages and sciences and artforms and mental disciplines. We can’t be blamed for being impressed by all that life has to offer, and there is just so, so much that it has to offer, to the point that it truly starts becoming overwhelming and even-mind numbing. There is so much choice, all of it right at our fingertips. There is so much freely available knowledge, so how can we choose what to study, for example? We can buy things online and have them within a few days, we can order any game or movie or book or software we want online and use it right away. We have become very advanced, in our own eyes. The thing is though, that we have to remember that life, as a real and natural thing, as an organic thing that we’re all experiencing, consists of the world, and it consists of humans, as well as other species, animals, plants, etc., and not only the physical aspect of all the things I just mentioned, but also, and especially, their spiritual aspect. Everything connects in a million ways we can’t even imagine. There is love, or companionship, and life is born… and it continues. Pleasure is involved in the process as well though, which I find interesting, since I’ll mention pleasure in a bit, and how it ties into this whole thing. What I’m saying right now though, is that all of the material stuff we create is cool without a doubt, and it may even be life-changing, but at the end of the day it’s still just stuff. It never has more value than a human life, or than the eternal elements that make a life truly worth living. I have a suspicion that many of us instinctively know this is the truth, that life is deep and that it’s not at all about money and power and pleasure, or about having the ability to do whatever we want whenever we want. We know that life isn’t about any of that, and yet we fail to live in a way that reflects our values. We have to constantly witness how, in the so-called real world, it is often the ones who ignore this idea, and who focus on material gain and competition, who end up getting rewarded, and who live what most of us tend to call “the good life.” For as much as we know that life isn’t about anything material, we still can’t help but be impressed by, and even envious of, those who have it. They can have what they want, they can live worry-free, they can take care of their health and that of their loved ones. Sure, but we don’t see that they also have their problems. Problems, anxiety, questioning, wondering… it’s all part of the human condition, whether with or without money. Anyway, when we don’t have money, we fail to realize this, because we feel as if having money would actually fix all of our problems. Again, we know life isn’t about money, and that money is, after all, just paper. It can’t be the ultimate goal, the ultimate truth of life. And yet, we live for it. We start to believe something different than we did previously, because whatever we constantly feed our subconscious mind is bound to eventually rise to the surface.
This is Part 1 of a multi-part train of thought on boredom, each part consisting of anywhere from 500 to 1000 words. I’ll continue today’s train of thought in tomorrow’s post.
This is also day 137 of my personal challenge of posting at least 500 daily words on my blog.
I appreciate you reading!
rebel eye 