Pointe of Art

Is Life is Really Boring? - 2/05
by Robert Maniscalco

I see it all the time in my one year old son, those in-between moments that add up to about eighty percent of his waking life. So far he seems to be able to fill them pretty well with exploration and wonder. Will he eventually learn to see them the way grownups do: as just plain boring?

As adults we can't actually admit to calling them boring, even though that's what they are. We say we're "chilin' out," thinking," "relaxing." We watch TV, wait for people to turn up or something exciting to happen. When on occasion exciting things do happen we instantly forget about all the in-between time we've wasted, waiting for them to happen. We snap into action; we feel alive until boredom sets in once again.

Sure, we all complain about how busy we, banging our heads against the wall, trying to make ends meet. But are we really more overworked than our ancestors? Is it really possible that we're just marking time, busying ourselves, trying to escape our boredom? Or have we learned as adults to accept this condition as "simply the way it is."

As a child, new to the rules, my son doesn't care about any of this. Nothing's boring to him. How can it be? It's all happening for the first time. Even in his moments of calmness, he seems to be captivated by a serene stillness—we're lucky to have been blessed with an extraordinarily good natured kid. Hopefully, he won't learn to call these moments boring, impatient for the next big thing like the rest of society.

Productive contemplation, introspection, invention, original thinking, intelligent conversation, self expression seem to have fallen by the wayside in our society. They are the past times of an earlier era, the pursuits one has to be willing to do badly to do well, the ones that often require a mastery of skills or knowlege. "Chillin out" is our way of filling in for what's missing in our lives. We have instant access to all the wisdom and knowledge of the ages yet most of us would rather "veg" during our "down time."

Time Magazine recently did a fascinating spread on happiness, concluding that it requires three things: 1) an ability to create pleasure, 2) an envolvement/committment to our work, relationships, etc and 3) the desire to give meaning to our lives. What if, as adults, we were able to appreciate the newness of every experience, to laugh, to cry, to express an opinion about every moment? What if we threw ourselves into our passions and woke up every day as if we were on a vital mission to change the world? Would we go insane? Probably. Would we upset a lot of people? Definately. Could we survive in the "real world?" Probably not.

Yet this describes the life of most of the poets, artists and visionaries I know, who are in the world to question everything others take for granted. The artists life is not always happy, save the moments of ecstasy when we are rewarded with a creative epiphany. While its true, being an artist is a restless dance, full of self-examination and uncertainty, at least its not boring.

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