I recently wrapped production on Summer Camp after working on it for 7 years, and the first emotion* that crept into my psyche was boredom. Not situational ‘I wish someone would hang out with me’ boredom, but a palpable existential boredom that felt pretty rotten. Much like depression often can (to me anyway), it didn’t feel like it was mine, it felt like I was being haunted by something else, and it got me thinking a lot about existential boredom and it’s parallels with depression. I became really focused on researching boredom in the hopes it was an ‘only way out is through’ situation.
I started by reading a book called ‘Boredom, A Lively History’ by Peter Toohey, and here dear reader, is what I highlighted in the book:
The Roman Philosopher Seneca thought of boredom as a kind of nausea
In Christian tradition it was referred to as the ‘noonday demon’ - a state of being simultaneously listless and restless and was often ascribed to monks and other people who led cloistered lives. (It is also a brilliant book on depression by Andrew Solomon).
By the Renaissance period it was thought to be a kind of depression brought on by too aggressive study of maths and sciences (can relate).
Boredom is the evolutionary cousin to disgust. So if disgust is a mechanism by which humans avoid harmful things, then boredom is an evolutionary response to harmful social situations or even their own descent into depression.
Boring things are less boring if you do them for other people (ie ironing a shirt or cooking dinner - if you find that boring, which I must admit I do.)
The term Horror Loci referred to a repulsion towards where one is.
Elbows are the telltale sign of social boredom - if you head is in your hands alone you are melancholy, if your head is in your hands with people you are socially bored. Fair warning boring friends!
I have this written down in my notes as well - not sure if it was part of the book but it feels very important: “Hands on hips are inverted hands on cheeks.”
James Ward hosts something called The Boring Conference in the UK and the podcast became great company to me when I was feeling listless, yet restless. I was walking through the Cotswolds while reading up on James Ward’s advice and did this as part of my boredom homework :
take one walk, record it, then take the walk again playing the original walk. You hear the ghosts of the previous walk - joggers, a kid and a duck, old conversations. Your walk doesn’t always line up with the previous walk such as swinging gates etc.
I was a huge fan of this concept and this made me think a lot about all the noise ghosts of experiences past.
I also stumbled upon ‘The Cone of Obliscence’ which I’m sure i’ll hammer on about in another newsletter, but is only here now as I would like to pitch that we rename existential boredom, sadness and all feelings of listlessness as the “Hollows.”
I also discovered the poem Mariana by Lord Tennyson, and especially loved this extract:
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Which inspired my own poem:
The thing that eventually pulled me out of my existential boredom was working on a sheep farm while reading ‘Spring Cannot be Cancelled’ by David Hockney, more specifically the paragraph, when David is asked what drives his work:
“Joy, he said instinctively, and then added that he hoped it would encourage them to look more closely at the world around them. In recent years, these things had come to summarize Hockney’s philosophy and his art: a positive celebration of life and the world around him through a close observation of, and delight in, even its most mundane details.”
Please let me know in the comments what mundane things delight you :).
Afterthought:
As I write this first entry I have come to the realization that the theme of each newsletter shall follow on from the last, thread style, or the slowest of slow motion multitasking.
*It is speculated that boredom might be a false emotion - a combination of surfeit, depression, frustration and feeling trapped.
Hello Julia and everyone else,
I am from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, but I currently reside in California in the United States. My favorite mundane activity is to walk around the city (sometimes with my iPod and headphones on) instead of getting around by any other means of transportation. With maybe a chore or two to address, or none. It allows me to appreciate the details around me; to reconnect. Like everything is slowed down enough that I can be present in more ways than just physically. Unfortunately, each subsequent relocation makes that less and less accessible. Walking around the city (or cities) has become less mundane and more of a treat. I often find myself longing for it.
Oscar
My favorite place in Savannah, GA (where I went to college) was a tiny parking lot in the middle of town. Everyone would always ask me why THAT out of everything traditionally beautiful about the city. I couldn’t give a reason. I think this sits in the same spot the love for the mundane is in my head. For example, mowing the lawn is a taxing and tiresome task, but singing harmonies against the drone of the engine makes it beautiful.
There’s a quote from Up that has always sat with me about this. Russell, upon talking about spending time with his dad, says “That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.”