Boredom Is Creative?

Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain

- Azra Hussain

Even though it is a very uncomfortable feeling, boredom does not affect us much since it comes and goes throughout our lives. It might be an undesirable feeling but it still is a rather trivial emotion when compared to episodes of intense anger and happiness. However, there is an underlying meaning to this seemingly unimportant feeling that we all experience in our day-to-day lives.

Just like boredom, pain, anxiety and anger are extremely uncomfortable emotions, the main differences being their intensity and the stimuli needed to experience them. These feelings are caused when a person is put in immensely stressful situations and environments. Boredom, on the other hand, is caused due to the lack of interest in the outside and inside world. It occurs when we are all alone, by ourselves. This raises a question – is existing in itself not fulfilling enough to keep us happy?

As Arthur Schopenhauer wrote in his work, On the Vanity of Existence, “If life — the craving for which is the very essence of our being — were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing.”

Although Schopenhauer’s statement is backed up by many philosophers and scientists alike, new evidence suggests that might not necessarily be the case.