Overstimulated But Existentially Bored!

Visakha Dasi: “Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote over 170 years ago: ‘Boredom is the root of all evil.’”

“To Kierkegaard, boredom is not just feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one’s current activity; boredom is not just a sense of emptiness due to an absence of stimulation. Boredom, he wrote, is the result of an absence of meaning in one’s life. This understanding explains why people today are overstimulated but existentially bored. In 2017, global spending for entertainment reached $2.2 trillion, yet there was also an increase in boredom and unhappiness.”

“Kierkegaard was clear about what would end his boredom: ‘What could divert me? Well, if I managed to see a faithfulness that withstood every ordeal, an enthusiasm that endured everything, a faith that moved mountains; if I were to become aware of an idea that joined the finite and the infinite.’”

“Interestingly, Kierkegaard had seen boredom as ‘the despairing refusal to be oneself.’ And what Prabhupada stressed – practically demanded – was for us to be ourselves, that is, to act as spiritual souls, tiny parts of God replete with God’s qualities of eternality, joyfulness, and cognition. Constitutionally the soul is meant to give pleasure to God and His devotees, and such pleasure-giving service is fresh because Krishna is nava-yauvana, ever fresh. Giving this sort of pleasure gives us the greatest pleasure. And this attitude is stimulated by spiritual love, love that is not motivated by personal gain. Surely it is due to our lack of realization of our spiritual identity and spiritual activity that boredom exists at all in this world.”