The Spiritual Value of Boredom

Last updated on: January 7, 2011 at 6:37 am by JBW

The Spiritual Value of Boredom 2011-01-07T06:37:34-05:00 JBW

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A young man from South America stayed as a guest with my family during the Christmas Holidays. It was his first ever visit to the United States. When we asked how the American Christmas compared to the same tradition in his home country, he tilted his head slightly and, in a slow Spanish accent, said, “In America, I think Christmas is more….” He paused for a moment, searching for just the right phrase in English. He then screwed up his mouth and carefully, deliberately pronounced the word, “….scheduled.”

Ah, yes. Welcome to America, Land of the Scheduled. Bring us your unstructured, your untethered and aimless, and we will fill them with classes, commutes, and committees. Idle hands, after all, are the devil’s handiwork.

I was reading a Blog last week that railed against the danger of boredom. Its many warnings included loss of focus and stifled creativity. And, to be sure, there is some truth to this. Scientific studies have linked high levels of boredom to increased risk of dying from a stroke or heart disease. A study in the journal “Aggressive Behavior” suggests that bored soldiers have a higher risk for antisocial behavior than they do with war trauma experiences. There is even an entire website dedicated to the evils of boredom, called “The Boring institute.”

But alas, dear reader, my busy little hands are so far removed from a state of idleness, I barely have time to imagine what it would be like to have too much time on my hands. To randomly surf the internet? To stare off into space? To waste time not making any choices?

I actually crave boredom. Life gets so frantic, moving at a full-throttle pace trying to manage the job, family activities, domestic chores, committees and boards, church, social events, and some semblance of an online presence, that I feel I must be productive every moment of the day in order to be worthy of myself. What a bonus is would be to discover a chunk of time when nothing was expected of me, when I am completely off the hook!

Ironically, some of the most productive, spiritually liberating, and creative moments come when we are unstructured – when we are, yes, bored. These are the times when we our mind can wander and we begin to daydream, when our subconscious starts connecting the dots to reveal new insights. It is when we open this window to nothingness that breakthroughs occur, when spontaneous conversations happen. Perhaps even holiness and grace patiently await us in those moments of unplanned inactivity.

Too many of us, however, are addicted to overstimulation, overcommitment and overachieving. Or maybe it’s just that we are simply afraid to be alone with ourselves. So we avoid boredom at all costs.

Boredom, my friends, has its place.

If we need a little nudge to get ahead in the boredom department, we might consider attending the Boredom conference. Founded by James Ward, author of the blog, “I Like Boring Things,” here is a place where boredom enthusiasts get together to discuss subjects such as their tie collections and their sneeze counts. One of the more poignant speakers at this conference, Naomi Alderman, spoke about her struggles as a child to observe the Jewish Sabbath for 24 hours. She told the Wall Street Journal,

“When we learn to tolerate boredom, we find out who we really are.”

Interesting. Maybe if we slowed down for a while and stopped all the frantic activities, we would actually find somebody’s there.

Work-Life Balance

Boredom

James Ward

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