'Boredom is a modern concept.'

[TuckEverlasting]

I've seen this statement floating around a bit lately. As someone who spends a significant amount of time bored out of his gourd, I find it hard to understand. Can someone go into more detail on this? If boredom is a 'modern' concept, when did it originate? And why (and if the answer to 'why' is 'because we have more time on our hands', I find that hard to understand, too - believe me when I say I am quite capable of being bored while 'doing stuff'...)?

They thought more of essence than of function.

What the heck does this mean? :shrug:

[Darth Executor]

It's probably a disease of our high quality of life. Ancient people couldn't be bored because there was always somethign that needed to be done. That's not the case for us. We have it so easy that there is plenty of time to waste.

[TuckEverlasting]

It's probably a disease of our high quality of life. Ancient people couldn't be bored because there was always somethign that needed to be done. That's not the case for us. We have it so easy that there is plenty of time to waste.

Darth! :poke: I just explained why I don't necessarily see that as a reason - it's very possible to be bored while you're doing something. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent bored at work. :zzz:

[yxboom]

my guess would be shorter attention spans and insatiable demand for entertainment.

[TuckEverlasting]

my guess would be shorter attention spans and insatiable demand for entertainment.

Maybe.

I'm also interested to hear what evidence there is for this idea. Is this the general consensus of the relevant scholars?

[Shadow Phoenix]

I've seen this statement floating around a bit lately. As someone who spends a significant amount of time bored out of his gourd, I find it hard to understand. Can someone go into more detail on this? If boredom is a 'modern' concept, when did it originate? And why (and if the answer to 'why' is 'because we have more time on our hands', I find that hard to understand, too - believe me when I say I am quite capable of being bored while 'doing stuff'...)?



What the heck does this mean? :shrug:

It means simply that we have defined ourselves today more by doing than by being. In the past, the ancients saw God as in charge of the universe (or the gods) and that all came from their hand. A man should be thankful for what he has. Reading writings like the golden sayings of Epictetus can be quite humbling.

Knowing God was in charge, the ancients tried to focus themselves on the good. To them, morality was something fun. Morality was enjoyable. We often see morality as a hindrance to our enjoyment. Why shouldn't we? We've supposedly removed God out of the picture and been liberated. Ironically, the situations where we have been the most liberated, we have also been the most saddened.

Pleasure will either be a placebo to deny reality or a clue to a greater reality. If it is a placebo, then we are basically saying that in the end we will all be worm food. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Yet if that's the case, then all pleasure is simply trying to help us forget that tomorrow we will die.

What if it's a clue though? Then the things we enjoy could in many ways point to an enjoyment that takes place in the heart of God. Sex points to the joy of intimacy and our desire for intimacy with God. Our favorite movies and TV action series that have a hero and a villain point to the joy of justice.

For the Christian, we have no reason to really be bored. In fact, it's possible that one of the seven deadly sins, sloth, could refer more to a boredom than just laziness. But as a Christian, what do we have to be bored about? We live in a universe where God has stamped his fingerprints throughout creation.

So when I find this thought of boredom creeping up inside of me sometimes, I do think of the joy of God. What a wonderful and awesome being he is. Everything on Earth is a picture of Heaven or Hell. I go about looking for those clues to Heaven and think of the awesome joy that awaits me here for while I am not bored, I am not content here.

Is that bad? No. Jesus tells us we're blessed if we hunger and thirst after righteousness. In fact, the joy is within the desire itself. Don't believe it? Ask any groom when thinking about his fiance if he enjoys even the desire for the honeymoon night. Here on Earth, the desire for Heaven is a greater joy than many other joys.

Yet in our age, we even ask the question of Heaven so we see how much it has crept in. "Will we be bored in Heaven?" How could we ever be there. We are not in the same time-frame that we are here. We are embracing multiple dimensions of time crossing over.

Peter Kreeft speaks of two different kinds of time for instance. Chronos time is chronological time. It is second by second, minute by minute. Kairos time is what fills each chronos second. Generally, every second is like every other second. It's what fills that second that makes the difference. 20 square feet is always 20 square feet. It's what fills those two that makes the difference.

In eternity, we will have eternity as well. We will see chronos and kairos continually cross and get to see our lives with perfect 20/20 hindsight. All of time will be filled with incredibly exciting kairos moments. We will never be bored. It would in fact be impossible to be bored.

Indeed, this is something hard to think about. I can recommend some writings on it though. C.S. Lewis has "Surprised by Joy" and "The Weight of Glory." Peter Kreeft has "Heaven: The Heart's Deepest Longing", and "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Heaven But Never Dreamed of Asking."

Ultimately, if you get "bored", then think about the idea of who God is. If God isn't enough to fill you with wonder and alleviate your boredom, nothing can. This doesn't discount all he gave us though either. 1 Tim. 6:17 says he gives us all things richly for our enjoyment.

[Taran Wanderer]

Darth! :poke: I just explained why I don't necessarily see that as a reason - it's very possible to be bored while you're doing something. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent bored at work. :zzz:
Maybe he means that the work we do now isn't necessary for life the way it was back then. I'm sure it's much more interesting to hunt for your next meal or build your home than it is to push paper all day.

[Darth Executor]

Darth! :poke: I just explained why I don't necessarily see that as a reason - it's very possible to be bored while you're doing something. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent bored at work. :zzz:

Yes but the conditions were different. Back then you were happy to work because if you didn't you died. Fear tends to keep you focused and keeps boredom away.

[Lady Gooner]

We live in a way that demonstrates that we have a consciousness of our mind and body existence, and the way we “live” demonstrates the universality of this reality.

The joy of the redeemed life is being reconciled to our God by the blood of Jesus Christ.

1 John 3
3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

3:3
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

While every man/women was made in the image of God, Christians are family. We have access to the God in an intimate way, which not only changes our hearts, but changes our minds. This is reflected in the changed life one experiences through a sanctifying experience called the “Christian walk”. Nevertheless we are still left with a limited knowledge and understanding about the world we live in. But why?

Hebrews 11
11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

11:2
For by it the elders obtained a good report.

11:3
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Simply put, God has placed us here with limited knowledge that we might learn to trust Him, and in doing so, realize with every fiber of our being that our very existence is dependant on Him. Think for a moment, which is better, to walk by faith or to walk by “sight”.

Is our body simply the “tent” or “temple” in which we live? While both mind and body exist in essence, it is by essence that they are temporarily one. Understanding that our body is temporal, everything we do in the body, how we live, affects our mind. It makes perfect sense that God has given us the control of our bodies, for it is this liberty that makes us free choice moral agents. Yet this is not true freedom, because our bodies serve sin. But “whom the Son sets free is free indeed”, and in Jesus Christ and Him only, we can “be transformed by the renewing of our minds”.

The thing about BOREDOM is absolutely everyone has to have a piece of it.
And of course boredom is nothing new. In "Boredom: The Literary History of a State of Mind" (University of Chicago Press, 1995), Patricia Meyer Spacks, an English professor at the University of Virginia, traces its legacy as a literary theme from Samuel Johnson to present-day writers like Saul Bellow:
The history of boredom in its cultural constructions matters partly because boredom itself now appears to matter so much. If boredom can provide plausible justification for acts of violence or self-destruction, if the desire to forestall it sells fountain pens and trips around the world, if fiction writers assume it as the substratum of experience . . . if all of the above are true, it would seem that boredom has assumed broad explanatory power in a society widely felt to be baffling. . . . Its 20th century magnification absorbs ever more material into the maw of the meaningless and provides ever more material for the imaginative writer.

But boredom is a prerequisite to attaining heightened levels of perception, argues an unsigned, online article on psychic development (found at www.newvision-psychic.com/magazine/698/notdoing.html). It says that "to be bored is to be on the verge of being startled awake.

A visit to the Web site of the Boring Institute (www.boringinstitute.com) in turn provides a link to that of the Dull Men's Club (www.dullmen.com), which offers bits of dull trivia so you can "be a hit at the next dinner party you attend":


This has been brief, and at some points general but is just some stuff that tripped of the fingers


but just my final note :

YOU GUYS HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS! :eek:

[The Empty Hours]

Yes but the conditions were different. Back then you were happy to work because if you didn't you died. Fear tends to keep you focused and keeps boredom away.


That's true. Boredom is an irrelevant concept when you're afraid/driven by fear. TuckDawg, you and I can easily get bored at work because we know that if we slack off, even if we lose our jobs, we won't die. It's not life-threatening.

I'm wondering -- does this mean that kings, noblemen etc. back in the olde times, who had ample luxury and plenty of leisure, got bored occasionally? Isn't that why they demanded so much (bloody) entertainment?

Life is so easy and good now -- this time and place is like nothing that has ever been before.

[The Empty Hours]

Ultimately, if you get "bored", then think about the idea of who God is. If God isn't enough to fill you with wonder and alleviate your boredom, nothing can.


Either that, or get Pacman, Zelda, stitchspeedchase and Mario high scores, ApologiaNick :teeth:

[Shadow Phoenix]

Either that, or get Pacman, Zelda, stitchspeedchase and Mario high scores, ApologiaNick :teeth:

No denying God gave us many things. 1 Tim. 6:17 affirms this. I can enjoy many things, but can I enjoy games even apart from God? Absolutely not. God is what makes gaming enjoyable ultimately.

Also, the ancients saw the work that they did as fulfilling a real purpose. We usually don't. Interestingly, in the garden, man was told to work and to "go forth and multiply." There's no indication that he didn't enjoy his work and certainly, he enjoyed the task of having to go forth and multiply. In a sense, work was pleasure and pleasure was work.

Today, we have a huge dichotomy between the two.

[Sparko]

Malachi 1:13 (Amplified Bible)

Amplified Bible (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/?action=getVersionInfo&vid=45) (AMP)

13You say also, Behold, what a drudgery and weariness this is! And you have sniffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought that which was [a (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Malachi%201:13;&version=45;#fen-AMP-23103a)]taken by violence, or the lame or the sick; this you bring as an offering! Shall I accept this from your hand? says the Lord.

Apparently boredom is not new.

[The Empty Hours]

No denying God gave us many things. 1 Tim. 6:17 affirms this. I can enjoy many things, but can I enjoy games even apart from God? Absolutely not. God is what makes gaming enjoyable ultimately.

Also, the ancients saw the work that they did as fulfilling a real purpose. We usually don't. Interestingly, in the garden, man was told to work and to "go forth and multiply." There's no indication that he didn't enjoy his work and certainly, he enjoyed the task of having to go forth and multiply. In a sense, work was pleasure and pleasure was work.

Today, we have a huge dichotomy between the two.


I was just making ze joke, but you raise an interesting point.. Isn't any non-sinful pleasure something God basically built in? And isn't every sinful pleasure a corruption/perversion of a non-sinful one?

[candistyx]

I used to say "I'm bored" all the time even though I wasn't. Turned out it was a verbal tic. Go figure.

[Sparko]

I'm bored.

[jellybene]

Pleasure will either be a placebo to deny reality or a clue to a greater reality. If it is a placebo, then we are basically saying that in the end we will all be worm food. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Yet if that's the case, then all pleasure is simply trying to help us forget that tomorrow we will die.Very good point. It seems to me that those who say "we should just live our lives now and not worry about the afterlife" forget that they will one day die, and whether they end up in heaven or hell, or go no where, this life will become infinitessimally important. I think it's an extreme case of myopia to not consider the afterlife. I see all pleasure and pain in this life as a reminder of the next.

For the Christian, we have no reason to really be bored. In fact, it's possible that one of the seven deadly sins, sloth, could refer more to a boredom than just laziness. But as a Christian, what do we have to be bored about? We live in a universe where God has stamped his fingerprints throughout creation.Ah, but what if boredom is a GOOD thing? I've been thinking about this, so take my words with a grain of salt. But what if boredom is also a reminder -- a reminder that we're doing to much or busying ourselves to the point that we forget about God? Boredom could be our "built-in" reminder that no matter how pleasurable, the things of this life will never fill that God-shaped hole in our hearts. It's a sign to perhaps slow down, stop doing, and start meditating. One of my favorite books of the bible, Ecclesiastes, immediately comes to mind.

Here on Earth, the desire for Heaven is a greater joy than many other joys.
Definitely. But you know, I can find myself depressed at times as well because I long for it so badly. Everything in this life is so temporary -- I long for the day when I'm on the other side to hear "well done" and all problems are over with. We can't even conceive of the things God has in store for us if we love Him! I can't conceive of living and being happy forever. The thought boggles my mind. Take the most wonderful thing in this life and multiply it by infinity. I think the horror of hell, in addition to the shame, is knowing what you will be missing out on forever!

Yet in our age, we even ask the question of Heaven so we see how much it has crept in. "Will we be bored in Heaven?"I used to wonder this too. I think it's because of our experience on earth. Every pleasure we have experienced, no matter how great, has been temporary. We're used to things having a beginning, middle, and end. We are finite beings, so trying to understand things eternal is impossible. Then, if we're not careful, we dismiss it because we can't comprehend it.
As you stated, the answer to this question is an unequivocal "no". It's a logical contradiction to say "eternal bliss will get boring after a while", for if it got boring after a while, we couldn't consider it eternal bliss, could we?! It's a lie of the evil one to say "we'll get bored in heaven--big deal" and "we'll get used to hell -- it's not so bad, there are great thinkers there"! If they were great thinkers they wouldn't be in hell in the first place!:thumb: