Meaningless expreiences are like Aspirin. They offer a small dose of pain-relief but dont target the underlying cause of the problem. The pain in this case is equated to boredom. I argue that people should embrace boredom because from it emerges the desire and the strong motivation to do something worthwhile.
I meet many people who profess the desire to do 'something'. But they find it difficult to break free of the routine. Yes, it is difficult since the routine has designed itself to squeeze out free thinking time. The old victorian houses used to have study rooms where men could find solace and meaning in their own throughs. There must have been some wisdom in those setups. Even in the case of the previous generation of ours, there are several men who prefer to come back home from the office and have their hour or two of free thinking (or doing nothing) time.
I currently read a book about the history of cancer, and it is not novel for me to find that many of the pathbreaking discoveries were made by people who obsessed about their work and their passion, woefully neglecting the daily (or conventional) way of life. Many of these people were social misfits, but in a society that rewarded and rewards mediocrity and normalcy. Yes indeed they were misfits, but because soceity and the 'crowd' couldn't understand their interest and passion. The society needs to be kept and a shoe's end and challenged in its belief-systems. One needs to be constantly remind oneself that people are just people, most of them living life as vegetables, going through the motions. It is these vegetables that make social mores. And if you think about it that way, then you wont mind breaking free and missing the seemingly innocuous get-togethers, movie nights, drinking parties, weekend trips and similar such activities which are nothing but the way of the vegetables to run away from their thoughts.
I find life to be very orchestrated, not by me but by forces around me. The insistence of society to get me married and sorted, the push from media to watch sleazy TV, the gimmicks of marketeers to make me adopt hand-sanitizers and the alcohol and the cigarrettes almost as entry tickets to an exclusive club of people. Instead, every choice should be made individually. I dont profess that one stops any of the above mentioned activities; all I argue is that the reason to pursue them should come from within. The same rationale should be put into place when one makes the choice of joining an activity with others or sitting down and enjoying the silence around him ...
