Boredom as a possible point of departure for meditation: silence, attention and access to being in Pablo D'Ors

Abstract

Boredom is a characteristic of today¿s society. At the individual level and at the social level, the Western countries suffer from boredom. There are extrinsic and intrinsic causes that can lead to boredom. In general, the state of boredom is reached when there are no problems to solve, when the profession does not demand our actions, or when we feel disappointed in realizing that the achievements of life do not give us sustained satisfaction over time. Boredom, especially if it becomes chronic, can be considered a negative thing. But it can also have something positive. The silence, stillness and inaction that define boredom are also characteristics that define the initial state of the person before meditation. This study aims to reflect the possibility of getting out of boredom through meditation. We can abandon boredom if we start a path of personal growth through increasing attention and perception; coming out of ourselves, leaving our own reflections and thoughts, reaching personal emptying and a voluntary impoverishment of our exteriority, which opens the door to us to encounter with being.