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Why do we experience boredom?

Fear of death. The mind has trouble being at rest. It feels it needs challenges, to always be on the move or it will die.
 
^^ I agree that's a part of it.

I'm guessing there's a physical part of the brain, connected with memory (short and long term) that controls interest in something. I'm not really up on my neuroscience, thus the conjecture on the physical part.
A more real question would be if people with Alzheimer's have moments of boredom.

Where does the instinctual urge for new stimuli come from? This obviously isn't consciously happening, or at some speed to be unnoticable.

And personality plays a part (or whatever sum total of experience equates to).

Someone can listen to jazz all day (possibly even the same record) and never become bored, while someone else can perceive within less than ~1 second that immediately they are bored of this music (taste?). Or they listen for a small amount of time and change the music, to a different genre, different song.

I've always wondered in layman's terms how a strong stimulant affects ADD/ADHD types, that it provides more focus/interest. Where say caffeine can provide the opposite experience, anxiety/no attention.
 
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i used to get really, uncomfortably bored by jazz. thats because jazz breaks your time sense. now that im a psychotic stoner, i love jazz.

i definitely agree that boredom is to do with fear of death. also, the sense of time is also to do with a fear of death - time "slipping away", a resource of the length of existence... and boredom is the sense that time is going too damn slow, its too empty and there's nothing we can do about it :\
 
noone1 said:
Fear of death. The mind has trouble being at rest. It feels it needs challenges, to always be on the move or it will die.
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Why does the mind have trouble being at rest and why does it fear that it will die if it doesn't keep moving?
 
Hmm, sounds like it could be an interesting concept but I think it lacks any real meaning. It's a shame though because it does have potential but its incoherance has made me form a negative view about it.
 
Karaboudjan said:
Why does the mind have trouble being at rest and why does it fear that it will die if it doesn't keep moving?
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The ego. What you percieve as you, that voice in your head and the feelings associated with it is not actually you. This is why finding inner peace is so difficult, the mind always wants to be turning and attached to something, letting go of your ego and being at peace would signify it's death. It will go through things like boredom, mental and body pain to draw your attention away from just being.

Of course there are physiological reasons associated with this.
 
thats interesting... so the voice in my head - you mean like the ego-narrator right? - isnt me ?
 
Boredom is the dreariness of having to be obliged to endure a quality of being that is mostly associated with waiting eternally.

What's lacking is stimulation. What's lacking is drive. What's lacking is spontaneity.

Which is another reason why people are boring: people have a tendency to act stimulated. Or worst, bored. It's surprising how many second rate actors there are. But then again life can be such a C movie. Tedious.
 
I dunno, but some people with mental illness experience pretty extreme boredom at times. They go and seek novel stimuli just to change that uncomfortable state. Often its sex or drugs or other dangerous activities. But its novel.
 
^ Ripping off the straps in desperation. Like the Cinderella's curfew, or Joplin's 'getting it while you can'. The forbidden and illicit encounter with one's dark lover in a very victorian and boring society. I can appreciate that.
 
We experience boredom because life is boring. Some things are boring for some while not for others. For example, work can be mind numbingly and back breakingly boring. While for others, they thrive on it!
 
ControlDenied said:
thats interesting... so the voice in my head - you mean like the ego-narrator right? - isnt me ?
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This is the essence of eastern philosophy and new age beliefs. You cannot experience a change in conciousness if you identify with the voice in your head. You can start by simply listening to it and find that most of what goes through your head is inane and useless. You should be using your mind as a tool not the other way around.
 
ControlDenied said:
"victorian"

That's probably the key here. Anglo Fly-trap...
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Well, a victorian society is terribly constricted. There are layers of management at all levels, protocols, decorum, status quo. Fashion. There are terms & conditions, licensing & intellectual properties, schedules, engagements, appointments, privacy policies, copyrights, contracts, guarantees, disclaimers, testimonies, blah blah blah blah.
 
My experiences have shown me that the reason for the universe is because we (consciousness) exists in an empty void all alone, accompanied by a crushing sense of loneliness and boredom. So we gave birth to this existence so we could experience. As far as I can tell, boredom is a subconscious remembrance of this state and the desire to avoid it.

I believe this is what ControlDenied was trying to say. :)
 
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