Two weeks ago, my brother sent me a podcast from a church he likes called Bridgetown. The podcast is called – Part 5: A Community of Peace in a Culture of Outrage and Fear.
Now the point of this sermon wasn’t necessarily to practice boredom. But rather it was to practice silence. And I think for many of us, silence feels like boredom. And both silence and boredom aren’t exactly sought after lately.
Since listening to this podcast, I’ve stopped listening to music and podcasts every time I mountain bike and hike. I’ve stopped forcing myself to continually listen, watch, do something at all waking hours. I’ve shut up and allowed the sound of silence to permeate in the car, on the trail, and at home.
I find myself wondering… What might we be losing through constant input? While it’s easy to create, it’s also easy to consume, and something about our human nature dictates that we prefer to consume more than to create. Which is what explains my tendency to watch 5 hours of YouTube on my couch instead of drawing, writing, or playing music.
So that leaves me to wonder, what might be the implications of more boredom in our culture? Would we be more patient and less irritable? Might we finally find the time to create again?
Boredom and I have been hanging out quite a bit lately. And I must admit, the water’s nice.