Boredom simply means that we are not interested. The situation, the way things are, is of no interest to us. We say we are bored, or most often we say, "This is boring. This is a really boring place. This is a boring movie. This is a boring talk. This is a boring book. That is a boring person"... and so on. We keep pointing out there. The quality of being boring is seen as something external. This is the first thing I would like to challenge. I disagree with this statement that the quality of being boring is something external. "There is nothing boring" is a correct statement, as is "everything is equally boring." They are both correct statements in accordance with reality. 
Boredom results from nothing other than one's own mind. There is nothing boring, but there //are// bored minds. The mind is bored. This is very important for us to appreciate and consider, otherwise we will always be saying, "This is a boring place, something is wrong with the place. This is a boring book, something is wrong with the book, let's get another one. Fix up the boring book by throwing it out and getting another, more interesting one." That is how we approach life. We treat boredom by changing the circumstances, trying to make them more interesting. We never really address the true cause or essence of the problem. 
Boredom is subjective 
To illustrate this I will relate an experience of mine. As I've sometimes mentioned, I am fascinated by science fiction. I was watching a science fiction movie on television, and I was really enthralled. The movie was so stimulating, the adrenaline was flowing and I was fully awake and alert. Then I noticed the man sitting next to me - he was dozing off! How could he possibly fall asleep? The movie was so interesting, but he was bored. That is a very interesting thing, isn't it? It shows that it is not the object that is boring, but the mind that is bored, the mind is not interested in that situation, that condition, that experience. Boredom is a very subjective experience, a very personal state. You will find that this is true of most things. You read a book and find it interesting, but someone else can't get past the first page. "It's so boring, how can you possibly read this?" 
So what is boredom? It is a subjective experience that occurs when the mind is not interested or stimulated, and doesn't like what the present contains. You want something else, you are bored. You say, "This is boring. This is not boring", but it would be more correct to say, "The mind is bored." The mind is bored because it doesn't want this situation, it wants something else, it wants to be somewhere else; it wants to have something else, to experience something else, someone else, somewhere else... 
It is very important to understand that the source of boredom is within your own mind. The consequence of not understanding this is that you will forever be trying to avoid boredom by finding new situations and new, exciting experiences. 

Posted in Labels: Research Posted by Jenny at 7:59 PM