In chapter 4, the author states that even when we're unhappy he doesn't think that we're bored; basically because we're doing things to remove ourself from that unhappiness. And he says "we are less bored than our ancestors were, but we are more afraid of boredom." He says that people seek out excitement to avoid boredom however. I can understand where he's coming from when he says "wars, pogroms, and persecutions have all been part of the flight from boredom; even corals with neighbors have been found better than nothing." He says that "boredom is there for a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half of the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it." I have seen this in my own life, through observing people around me; concentrating on their own life seems to be boring to certain people and focusing on someone else's seems to alleviate that boredom for them. The reality of that is that focusing on issues with yourself or within your own life can lead to improvement, but focusing on other people and intruding upon their lives out of boredom, leads to arguments, and sometimes even quarrels that cannot be resolved. I believe that people's predisposition and matters that do not concern them, is certainly a means to evil and sin.
He says the boredom of self is not a evil though and that there are two types of boredom: one that he terms fructifying, people experience as an absence of drugs. And the other key terms stultifying, and the funds as the absence of vital activities. He says that he's not talking about certain opiate prescriptions that are wisely prescribed by physicians for people who actually need them, but instead drugs of other kinds. I would agree that those kinds are often very vital to those who need them, to maintain a balance, that their body is naturally lacking (of the results of ADHD or other learning disabilities,) and that such prescriptions allow them an equitable chance at succeeding in work and school environments as those who do not suffer with such disabilities.
He compares too much excitement and one's life to a drug, in that the more you take it, the more you need. He says that a life with too much excitement leads to exhaustion, because you are always looking for the next big thrill, basically. The more you have of something the less you appreciate it. I believe this to be true also. I always tell my son that without bad in the world we can't appreciate good and for instance without the rain we can't appreciate the sunshine. The author is basically saying the same thing in that some levels of boredom are necessary in which to appreciate thoroughly those excitements in life. He also goes on to say that we should teach our children to appreciate the little things in life while they're young, and to enjoy simple pleasures with a tolerable amount of boredom, allowing for their imaginations to bloom- rather than clogging their imaginations with a life full of business and amusements and an unrealistic amount of excitement; excitement that they will later become to expect in adulthood, which will ultimately lead them to unhappiness, unachievable expectations, failed marriages, etc. I also very much so agree with this. In today's ever busy society, families are constantly moving, to get to work, to get to a vacation destination, to get to social and school activities. How many families anymore just sit and spend time together, and for instance talk about life, and what truly matters and the grand scheme of it. I know that those times have just sitting and talking about those things with my own parent, is a fond memory from my childhood, that surpasses any Joy that I felt from some short-lived vacation. And I, in turn, try to provide my son with those same types of conversations, which mattered very much to me, both then, and even now, appreciating them, as a building block, in the type of person that I have come to be, which understands and reflects upon the smaller things in life having a larger value in actuality within it, than the larger than the other people spend unnecessary effort in attributing to its importance.
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