Boredom

[PsychoSarah]

What is the opposite of boredom?

Engaged (as in, engaged in your work, interested)

 

[Gottservant]

What is the opposite of boredom?

Boredom doesn't have an opposite, that's why it's boring. (selah)

 

[PsychoSarah]

Boredom doesn't have an opposite, that's why it's boring. (selah)

Look at my post above yours

 

[sarxweh]

Engaged (as in, engaged in your work, interested)

That would imply that being unengaged is always boring

 

[PsychoSarah]

That would imply that being unengaged is always boring

-_- if you aren't engaged in something, you probably do find that activity boring. Whether or not you are bored depends on whether or not you decide to do something else you are interested in while you are supposed to be focusing on the boring activity.

 

[sarxweh]

-_- if you aren't engaged in something, you probably do find that activity boring. Whether or not you are bored depends on whether or not you decide to do something else you are interested in while you are supposed to be focusing on the boring activity.

So boredom is an emotional longing...

I think engagement seems like a good opposite. But like you said, you can be bored whether or not you're busy.

Is boredom an accident brought on by decision?

 

[sarxweh]

My 11yr old daughter says boredom is related to repetition ... Such as hearing the mayflower story five times from different textbooks

 

[sarxweh]

My wife said: boredom is desire without hope

 

[Gottservant]

In the beginning, boredom was the supreme boredom.

Everybody said, I'm so bored I don't even want to be.

But God was angry, and He said "Be!"

So the world was filled with people who were too scared to be bored and not be.

 

[sarxweh]

In the beginning, boredom was the supreme boredom.

Everybody said, I'm so bored I don't even want to be.

But God was angry, and He said "Be!"

So the world was filled with people who were too scared to be bored and not be.

So the opposite of boredom is "to be"

Is boredom therefore a state of non-being?

 

[PsychoSarah]

So boredom is an emotional longing...

I think engagement seems like a good opposite. But like you said, you can be bored whether or not you're busy.

Is boredom an accident brought on by decision?

Boredom is the product of disinterest, and our interests are derived from a variety of factors, such as our experiences, natural talents, personalities, etc.

Boredom is independent of how productive an activity is, generally speaking, one might simply sit their and let their imagination go wild, never being bored while doing so, while someone else could find the same activity horrifically boring. As for whether or not you can decide to be bored, maybe? With enough exposure or effort you might manage to gain an interest in some activity, but I doubt that one could make themselves enjoy literally anything.

 

[sarxweh]

Boredom seems inextricable from purpose. The worst moments of boredom seem to be a sort of longing. Even business can produce the feeling of boredom because some tasks can seem so meaningless. I think boredom is neither a cup half full or half empty.

I think boredom is the sense that the cup is empty.

And the opposite of this feeling is a moment of hilarity or grave meaning or epiphany or when you are awe struck with the intricacy and "beauty" of something.

Beauty is the antagonist of boredom but its not the other way around. Boredom is an absence like darkness or a void where something else should be; Maybe this is ought-ness, or maybe its simply a less potent version of an ought we might call "could-ness". I'm open to that. But a "nothing" boredom can't antagonize a moment of meaning or beauty because in that moment the cup is full; or else its not an experience of meaning and beauty.

Interesting that it only goes one way

 

[PsychoSarah]

Boredom seems inextricable from purpose. The worst moments of boredom seem to be a sort of longing. Even business can produce the feeling of boredom because some tasks can seem so meaningless. I think boredom is neither a cup half full or half empty.

I think boredom is the sense that the cup is empty.

And the opposite of this feeling is a moment of hilarity or grave meaning or epiphany or when you are awe struck with the intricacy and "beauty" of something.

Beauty is the antagonist of boredom but its not the other way around. Boredom is an absence like darkness or a void where something else should be; Maybe this is ought-ness, or maybe its simply a less potent version of an ought we might call "could-ness". I'm open to that. But a "nothing" boredom can't antagonize a moment of meaning or beauty because in that moment the cup is full; or else its not an experience of meaning and beauty.

Interesting that it only goes one way

I don't know if I would use "beauty" to describe that.

 

[sarxweh]

Preoccupation?

 

[PsychoSarah]

Preoccupation?

More positive connotation than that. Fulfillment seems a tad preachy. Regardless, I get what you mean

 

[sarxweh]

More positive connotation than that. Fulfillment seems a tad preachy. Regardless, I get what you mean

What would you substitute for beauty? I was thinking "preoccupation" could be a viable switch but I think your right. It probably needs to be more positive.

I meant that an empty cup brings specific disappointment since it betrays the whole notion of a cup: to hold a drink of whatever. Of course it is metaphorical so that we can have such a thing as a "full moment" (seeing a beautiful sunset, but also being understood, knowing without a doubt, etc).

Boredom seems to be a moment of emptiness in that sense, where being "not bored" is a moment of the "absence of emptiness".

Still not a very positive phrasing. I probably need some help here...