Which is worse Boredom or Sadness?
Sometimes sad things can be dramatic. And although they're far from positive, one could find resolve in that fact - in that they're certainly not boring/uneventful at least. They can also be a source of motivation, purpose or a push someone needs to improve things (post traumatic growth).
Boredom on the other hand, is not much motivation for anything at all. It's idle. Insufferably still and ineffectual. And still feels negative nonetheless, like sadness. One can be sad but still feel a point to it. Boredom just feels well, like pointlessness.
Having said that many would opt for feeling temporarily bored to feeling temporarily extremely sad. So does it depend on the severity? What is severe and chronic boredom like? Anhedonia? Is it like depression or is depression closer to chronic sadness? Is boredom a subcategory of sadness perhaps?
"I'm bored because im sad"
OR
"im sad because I'm bored".
To me both make sense. But that's a cartesian circle. How does one end the boredom or vice versa the sadness I such. cycle.
For me, my approach to most things is balance. And in this case the balance is between "doing just enough" - that is to say:
1) Not doing too little of different things (ie doing too much of the same thing ie. sitting by yourself for example) that you find it dull and repetitive, get bored, succumb to the inertia of boredom and get stuck at a demotivated standstill.
2).Not doing too much of different things (ie doing too little of repetitive/comfortable and enjoyable things) that you're constantly stressed, overworked, overstimulated and overwhelmed and thus develop procrastination = an aversion towards tasks that seem unmanangable, colossal, demanding and unending. Procrastination is the brakes that are pulled when one starts to do just a bit too much to find things enjoyable. Rest is important.
Boredom on the other hand, is not much motivation for anything at all. It's idle. Insufferably still and ineffectual. And still feels negative nonetheless, like sadness. One can be sad but still feel a point to it. Boredom just feels well, like pointlessness.
Having said that many would opt for feeling temporarily bored to feeling temporarily extremely sad. So does it depend on the severity? What is severe and chronic boredom like? Anhedonia? Is it like depression or is depression closer to chronic sadness? Is boredom a subcategory of sadness perhaps?
"I'm bored because im sad"
OR
"im sad because I'm bored".
To me both make sense. But that's a cartesian circle. How does one end the boredom or vice versa the sadness I such. cycle.
For me, my approach to most things is balance. And in this case the balance is between "doing just enough" - that is to say:
1) Not doing too little of different things (ie doing too much of the same thing ie. sitting by yourself for example) that you find it dull and repetitive, get bored, succumb to the inertia of boredom and get stuck at a demotivated standstill.
2).Not doing too much of different things (ie doing too little of repetitive/comfortable and enjoyable things) that you're constantly stressed, overworked, overstimulated and overwhelmed and thus develop procrastination = an aversion towards tasks that seem unmanangable, colossal, demanding and unending. Procrastination is the brakes that are pulled when one starts to do just a bit too much to find things enjoyable. Rest is important.
Comments (31)
Boredom, otoh, is entirely avoidable. I may not be motivated to do anything constructive or practical; I may even be deliberately shirking such activity (as now), but I can always find an alternative way to entertain myself. I'm never really bored; it's unnecessary. Even if I have to listen to a dull speech or or watch tennis, I can always look out the window, or make up vulgar limericks or clever retorts to long-past arguments.
A: Who knows. Who cares.
Sadness is healthier, but boredom is more interesting.
Haha! That's the spirit you show them hehe.
Haha! I love this. Very fun.
Apparently, sadness is more entertaining than boredom.
So maybe boredom is worse?
I'm inclined to agree. I have been sad sometimes but it is often very clarifying and cause for self reflection or for examining circumstances. In essence quite a mentally active state of mind. Trying to put things into perspective to abate negative emotions that come from uncertainty, miscalculation or lack of understanding.
Boredom on the other hand. Well I can assure you I never used that time well. Because if I did, I would not consider it boredom. I would consider it productivity, engaging, useful.
For me boredom is worse. And personally I think boredom is closer to depression than sadness is. Because people can feel acutely and strongly upset regularly, but would not consider themselves depressed. They might consider themselves emotionally labile, dramatic, sensitive. But not depressed.
I could well imagine a chronically bored person on the other hand saying things like everything is pointless and futile. Worthless. Meaningless.
They watch horror movies, too. So, I guess that means it's better to be eaten by a monster than have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Naw, people stave off their own boredom through vicarious enjoyment of other people's suffering.
Well. I'm sure this is true, no doubt.
However it's only one side. People also enjoy other peoples enjoyment. So much so that laughter and smiles can be "infectious".
Of course, clinical depression exists but I've also seen some spiritual teachers say a stage of the path to enlightenment is where the world has lost its attraction (boredom) but awareness of higher truth is not yet established.
One must explore the worst extremes of the human condition in order to understand the best extreme.
There's no reward without struggle.
Oh, sure. They also watch romantic comedies. What I meant to compare was boredom vs. interest. Whatever happens in it, happy or sad, painful or scary, a movie is always about other people; about feelings you can sympathize with, pity, laugh at or appreciate - but they are not your feelings.
If a movie makes you sad or afraid, it's from a safe distance; if it bores you, the boredom is your own.
Have you actually done a lot of that? For far too many people in the world, that's their normal, daily condition, and there is no reward. By and large, philosophers do their exploring of human nature and human conditions from a comfortable armchair on a full stomach - yet never grow bored with their own cogitations.
Yes. Like most people I know what depression really is because I've experienced it myself. I also know what it's like to self hate/loathe, feel shame, feel guilt.
I cannot say I've had it "worse" than anyone else. It's not nor should it be a competition. That said, i'm probably quite fortunate in fact because for me these periods were brief and infrequent. I understand that there is always a deeper rock bottom and some people are stuck struggling there or are spiralling towards it.
My point was that it is unlikely to know what's good or healthy for you without experiencing things that are bad/unhealthy.
Which I was aligning with Art48 saying spiritual clarity or enlightenment or whatever state of inner peace one is striving for it makes sense that a period of suffering is neccesary to drive you in search of that in the first place.
We know things and define things in opposition, by comparison
It's why a child will always make the same common mistakes as their parents growing up because they don't have the luxury of wisdom - something that comes from personal experience, rather then simply being told "don't do that because A, B and C. " - and experience of course not being exclusively good.
I didn't make it a competition. You raised a comparison.
Quoting Benj96
But we're not exploring African sweatshops or Turkish prisons or a girls' school in Afghanistan or Necrotizing Fasciitis ....
I've had some bad times, too, but I sure wouldn't call them anywhere near the worst, and I would not choose to explore them out of intellectual curiosity or to avoid boredom. (Epicurean, me.)
Well therein lies a difference. No one need work in a sweatshop to explore what it would be like intellectually. If we had to do everything ourselves in order to validate it as good or bad or discuss it meaningfully then we would be reducing empathy, our capacity for abstraction and imagination to nothing short of "reactionary" to immediate circumstances.
I was speaking of the more nuanced psychological exploration of the human condition: not a specific humans condition (working in a sweatshop) but rather "the" human condition as it pertains to the mind - suffering and it's opposite. Everyone has experiential sources of suffering and peace and joy to draw from. They are not the same for everyone but I believe suffering as a general basic mindstate shares the same qualities regardless of where it can from.
Enlightenment I would imagine, like depression and suicidal ideation are mindstates not physical circumstances on can "try out".
We all have a sense of good and bad in reference to how it makes us feel. The qualities and definitions, the "sets" of things that are considered good verses bad are different for everyone. That's the frontier of conflict, confusion, inequality and discrimination I guess. When "what is good" for one person is "bad" for another.
To most introverts the sheer experience of being alive is enough to circumvent boredom. Though even the holders of the most vivid of imaginations would probably get bored in a padded cell in physical restraints. From there sadness may follow. However sadness is often a reflective or passive emotion as opposed to say anguish or rage which is often active or "kinetic" so to speak.
I suppose one could say sadness is the smoldering ember of anger. Is it not?
Sadness itself is part of the human experience, though the overarching reality or set of circumstances behind the event or circumstance is what one becomes troubled by, often surpassing the superficial tapestry of sadness into the bottomless abyss that is despair.
So while the two are related, many instances of either are often transient, despite our fervent belief otherwise.
I could look at the world as a benevolent person whose duty is to prevent harm despite having limited resources and influence to do, just about anything worthwhile or everlasting.. Looking in the right places I could easily become sad. I could look at the world as a self-centered individual whose only concern is me, myself, and I and having all basic and reasonable needs and desires met, become quite bored. Perhaps even more so as a theist who believes anything and everything in this life is basically "part of a ride" that is essentially to be avoided. So it can go both ways.
Exactly! You can work out what's good in life without "exploring" what's bad.
Quoting Benj96
The theoretical one. Not actual suffering, but some kind of philosophical angst. Didn't we all do that exercise between 16 and 20 years of age? It tends to come with mild substance abuse and bad poetry. But the outcome is generally positive - a thinking-intuitive adult.
Quoting Benj96
There, I must disagree. I think the differences, not only from person to person, but from species to species, are relatively minor. I think in the broad strokes, all biological entities choose the same categories of things to seek and things to avoid.
Quoting Outlander
In my experience, it's most commonly a response to loss.
Quoting Outlander
I think that depends on the scope and depth of the loss - how invested one is - how much of one's effort, identity and emotional well-being depended on the entity, struggle, nation, faith, ideal, species, or planet that was lost.
Only because its expiration brings about a union of the other two: a state of weary resignation.
How so? Can you elaborate your views here.
For one, one has little to no need or use for hope when one is fully content with how things are going.
Hope then, is for the unsatisfied - for whatever reason; those that are ambitious, aspirational, or perfectionists or those that are struggling with how things are currently - the sad, the grieving etc.
Hope is born from 1). A need and 2). Optimism
So if I say I hope the wind blows easterly tomorrow, what is the lack of courage here? What do we say about lacking courage when we hope about things occurring that are wholly out of our personal control? I see no relevance of courage to such things.
And how does one reconcile the sentence "I hope im not a wishful thinker" which semantically and grammatically makes perfect sense and is utilitarian in every day language. But by your definition is absurdism.
Words are important. Sadly I'm not a mind reader. So they're all we have to communicate ideas to one another. I'm not trying to play word games, I'm trying to establish whether your definition stands up to reasoning. As I'm sure you have done in reverse many times in the past with me or other tpf contributors.
If you're bored don't let me stop you taking a backseat. But engaging in the discourse takes more than abrupt personal and unfounded conclusions. My "intent" is not to play word games, however your "interpretation" of the execution of my intent is that I am. I would say then that this is "miscommunication".
It's fine to be sad for a while, or bored for a while, but not for too, too long, otherwise it becomes a very serious issue.