Boredom and Passivity

I had a dream this morning. The first part of it was my standard ‘you are not included’ nightmare. But I remember at the end it had morphed into something else. And the phrase “Boredom is the frustrated desire to be doing something [often something particular]” flowed along. I thought this was such a tremendously meaningful statement that I woke up so I could remember it. In the light of consciousness, it doesn’t seem quite as profound, though still worthy of note.

Most particularly, boredom, like anger, seems to naturally result in a vicious cycle, though with boredom, the commonplace complement is passivity. Instead of rooting out the cause of the boredom, what it is we want to be doing, we are likely to turn to our automatic medium of choice (in my case, the tall & wide Ikea Billy full of sci-fi _right_ next to my bed and the net.). TV is popular, but I’m down on that, so whatever. The point of it is that, like eating, these are reactions that don’t really address the underlying cause. Figure out what you want to do and do it. Or try something, and see if that does it. Waiting is a poor response to boredom in most circumstances.

Spinning the wheel of blame, I come up with the educational system. Wait in line, wait til you’re called on, answer these standarized questions, read these standardized stories, fit yourself into this shape distinctly not based on you or your interests, who gives a fuck what you want? An environment based on the imperative voice. Doesn’t exactly encourage any search for introspective awareness of one’s own desires. Especially inappropriate for someone, like me, who has a more interrogative bent.