h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Many Faces of Boredom - A2442665
Author: AlDente - U655098

The Many Faces of Boredom

Boredom comes in many forms and is indeed an interesting facet of the human experiance. Many people enjoy being bored on a daily basis, while others choose to put off being bored until such a time as they need reminding again of just how boring things can be.
There are many methods of securing boredom.
As has already been elluded to, some people find jobs for themselves that will guarantee a lifetime away from any kind of minor thrill whatsoever. While others, who have procured for themselves a somewhat stimulating form of employment, will carefully select books, films or other types of general "entertainment" that they subconsciously (or semi-consciously, as the case may be) recognise to be of the variety that will ensure a boring experience. In fact, it's often the case that people doing boring jobs will then go and indulge in more boredom by following the actions of their more exhilerated-about-work cousins.
So what is it about a state of mind that has been deliciously numbed by the purest boredom that we all, in our way, put ourselves into positions that will bring it about? What makes us want to be bored?
And (perhaps more curiously) what is it about us that motivates us to try and free ourselves from boredom's comfortable clasp once there?
Could it be the case that there are two types of being at work in the world within? One is an exagerated Sisyphusian, relishing every moment with excited joy and wanderlust, ever enquiring the surrounds with an easily suprised pair of wide eyes. It is the part of us that makes us pine to hunt for new experiances, and naggs us when we don't quite notice them. It is the Sisyphusian within which relishes in the fact that it's constantly tugging at our conscious for attention over the ancient monk. This other side of ourselves wishes only that we would be still. For, deep down, we suspect that if everything were to be veiwed through eyes that emulated the clear purity of an un-rippled body of water, all would make perfect sense.
One could say that the negative side of excitement arises when the inner monk starts to feel like its being neglected far too much, and we soon find that it won't stop being irritable until we quell our urge to base-jump.
Conversely, the negative side of boredom is only felt when the neglected Sisyphusian within awakens to the fact that there are more buildings out there than there are days in the year, and so we should hurl ourselves off as many of them as we can, while we can.
Boredom has a bad reputation, despite the fact that it has been with us longer than history will tell. We can't quite be sure where boredom came from, or even why we have it, but it's something we all need to respect a little more if we wish to stop hearing in the news about lawsuits to parachute manufacturers.

Hi AlDente - there's some good news and some bad news here.

The bad news is that there's already an Edited Guide entry on Boredom at A99524 - to avoid disappointment, it's always worth searching the EG to see if there's already an entry on your chosen topic, because there can't be two entries about the same thing in the Edited Guide.

The good news is that it's one of the very early entries in the Edited Guide, that - to be frank - wouldn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting in these days. So there's a good chance that if you incorporate a little of the original entry into your own, and then submit it to the UpdateForum, there's a good chance of getting it into the Edited Guide eventually.

The one thing I would say initially about the entry itself is that the lack of paragraph breaks makes it quite hard to digest easily - try breaking it up into section, and you can even add a few paragraph headers.

The other things I'd recommend is reading around the Guide a little to get an idea of what sort of thing is being accepted currently - you can find links to all the new entries that have been published in the last month on the Month page. Also, if you've not already read the Writing-Guidelines, I'd recommend it as absolutely essential reading for anyone wanting to write for the EG.

Best of luck,
Number Six

Thank you very much Number Six for your comments. I'm affraid I'm rather new to h2g2, and so my understanding of what's required as a researcher is still quite minimal, and so your advice is very much appreciated. When next I log on I intend look into things as you suggested, but for now I must go to bed.

Thanks again

AlDente

You could start by saying what you mean by boredom.

One of you early statements "Many people enjoy being bored" does not fit at all with my definition of boredom. Enjoyment and boredom are near opposites.

You cannot enjoy being bored. If you're enjoying what you're doing you're not bored. I enjoy doing nothing sometimes . . . or vey simple things but its not boredom.

And many of the things you describe later on may seem dull to others but its not necessarily boredom.

Thats just my opionion anyway.

2/3

Thanks 2/3, I think you've raised real points. I think I may have been trying a tad too hard to write a tounge-in-cheek appraisal, and on later reflection, I too realised that the points I was trying to make may have had more pertenance to relaxation than solid boredom.

AlDente

But then, relaxation doesn't quite cut it either, I think. hmmmm....

Hi Al, and welcome

If you keep the present course, you might want to mention that some of us enjoy boredom because we're being paid 8 hours a day to be in that otherwise unenviable state.

I thought 'boredom' went with 'boring', meaning more or less 'definitely not that enjoyable'.

After all, time you enjoy wasting is not wasted, and is not boring either. Time you waste while being paid is not usually enjoyable, and is boring.

This leads me to the conclusion that boredom is something that you fall in to when you do something that you do not enjoy, but not through choice.

This author has Elvised, and there's any entry of boredom already, so I propose moving this back to entry.


Geggs

Agreed and seconded.

No No No
I think there is something in what AlDente is saying. Boredom is not necessarily negative. Boredom sets in when our creative faculties are not being stimulated and makes our mind wander. While this may not be desirable it can lead to ingenious ideas such as "oh why don't I ring such and such a person to see how they are getting on".
This leads to the conclusion that we should try and be bored as much as possible as it leads to more originality and fun experiences.

This is completely different from relaxtion where one is focusing on one thing, such as God, yourself or music.

So I think that the Authour has the twofold nature of being the wrong way round. The part of ourselves that continuously seeks new experiences is actually pretty bored, and the inner monk is the most
content i.e. not bored.