Hi all,
Found this interesting piece on boredom on the Guardian website, thought it might get the little grey cells going.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... -free-mind
I personally like those moments that some call boring, the quiet, precious moments.
K
Boredom
Nice article. I'll do some links to it.
What is boredom? It's a question that has always intrigued me. There's a large portion of it that is thinking, but undoubtedly there is a "feeling" component to it as well.
What is boredom? It's a question that has always intrigued me. There's a large portion of it that is thinking, but undoubtedly there is a "feeling" component to it as well.
Gareth, you asked "What is boredom?"
Tolle's passage from his book "Stillness Speaks" really resonated with me. You may have already read it - if not, here it is:
"The mind exists in a state of "not enough" and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus, more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied.
When you feel bored, you can satisfy the mind's hunger by picking up a magazine, making a phone call, switching on the TV, surfing the web, going shopping, or — and this is not uncommon — transferring the mental sense of lack and its need for more to the body and satisfy it briefly by ingesting more food.
Or you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless. As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it, as it were. A little at first, but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.
You discover that a "bored person" is not who you are. Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not "yours," not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go."
Tolle's passage from his book "Stillness Speaks" really resonated with me. You may have already read it - if not, here it is:
"The mind exists in a state of "not enough" and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus, more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied.
When you feel bored, you can satisfy the mind's hunger by picking up a magazine, making a phone call, switching on the TV, surfing the web, going shopping, or — and this is not uncommon — transferring the mental sense of lack and its need for more to the body and satisfy it briefly by ingesting more food.
Or you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless. As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it, as it were. A little at first, but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.
You discover that a "bored person" is not who you are. Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not "yours," not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go."
Jon, meditationSHIFT
-
- Information
-
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests