Bored to Death
Bored to Death is the title of an article by philosophy professor Russell Snell. He talks about boredom as the “stance toward the world most evident in the historical and social space of contemporary Western life.”
Many of us no longer find the world beautiful, or good, or of worth, and since the world and the things of the world are quite worthless in themselves, they bore us. Of course, since we too are inhabitants of this world without worth, we find almost no worth in other persons either, or in ourselves. At the same time, many find this boredom impossible to give up—we like this stance, we like the boredom—because the meaninglessness of the world allows us to treat it and others and ourselves exactly as we wish. We are free! Since the world, for us, does not have the weight of glory, we owe it nothing and can do with it precisely as we wish. But a culture of freedom without truth, a culture where freedom is unchecked by the good of being, ends up as a culture of death. Our bored culture is a culture actively engaging in a revolt against limits, place, order, and we are willing to harm and kill our world, each other—especially the weakest among us—and ourselves in a pique of freedom.
I would take it one step further: not only are we willing to harm and kill our world, and one another, we are willing to kill ourselves. I have often wondered whether the increase in suicide, especially among the young, is related to this theme. Nothing has any meaning, including our own existence. We keep telling the young that nothing matters, and some of them are believing us…..
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I don’t think people kill themselves because they’re bored. I would hope we can rule that out as a real possibility.
Brilliant, brilliant. Eternal Truth and Beauty are essential to the soul; pointing us toward Heaven. Denial of this is denial of God – the only source of life. It only makes sense that death ensues without recognition and pursuit of the everlasting. We can see but glimpses and shadows of joy in this life, but we must cling to them. And how mysterious that the greatest of joys is to be gained from what appears a small wafer and cup …
Life becomes better when, instead of, “What do I want?” we ask, “What do You want?”
Work is a good antidote to boredom. That, and gratitude.
Thankfully, we have the gay and lesbian community fighting tooth and nail for the right to marry, sending a clear signal that marriage matters, family matters, love matters, commitment matters.
No other group in the country today is fighting harder for these values and against cynicism.
@Rob Tisinai
“2.3 million couples wed every year in the US. That breaks down to nearly 6,200 weddings a day.”
Each of these weddings is attended by an average of 157 friends and family members.
Thankfully, our society has not given up on marriage: one man and one woman.
Ruth, no one has given up on one man, one woman marriage. But society also wants to include one man, one man marriage, and one woman, one woman marriage.
When gay couples are permitted to marry, straight people do not lose their right to marry.
@Sean
You seem to think only in terms of yourself: “What is in my self interest?” You cannot imagine that someone could consider anyone but themselves.
Why should I care whether or not everyone in society is forced to affirm that the emperor is wearing clothes?
What possible effect could it have on me?
And yet, I would fight against it.