• Banno
    23.1k
    I hardly ever feel bored...Janus

    Well, there's your problem, then. Allow tedium soak in, to permeate your being; meditate on the fact that you might do anything, but instead do nothing; procure an aspidistra and put it in your front window, watch it by degrees become covered in dust.

    Have you noticed that gum turps leaves a better colour on the handles?
  • Janus
    15.4k
    Well, there's your problem, then. Allow tedium soak in, to permeate your being; meditate on the fact that you might do anything, but instead do nothing; procure an aspidistra and put it in your front window, watch it by degrees become covered in dust.Banno

    I find it hard to imagine how it would be possible to do nothing. It could be said that I tried for many years via meditation to achieve the state of doing nothing, but I could never get there. Your Aspidistra contemplation sounds like it would be like watching the grass grow, very focused on very little for a very long time. But, it all depends on the state of consciousness. It reminds me of Blake:

    To see a World in a Grain of Sand
    And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
    Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
    And Eternity in an hour


    So the conclusion would be that boredom is a state of mind, not a state of doing (or lack of it).

    Have you noticed that gum turps leaves a better colour on the handles?Banno

    Yes, agree; better than mineral turps. Better for painting pictures too. When I was cabinet-making I used to heat gum turps and linseed oil (very carefully!) and melt beeswax into it, to make an excellent furniture polish. Just the gum turps and linseed oil is good for that too, but not quite as lustrous as with the added beeswax.

    I think these things matter, so I guess we're not going off-topic.
  • Deus
    320
    Non-awareness of self is when we’re lost in the task at hand. Boredom is when we get good at it
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    As per a(n) Indian/Sri Lankan lady who did research on what matters to people (search TED talks),

    1. Love
    2. Health
    3. Happiness
    (in no particular order)

    Syād, a good measure of what matters to a person is how much suffering said person is willing to endure/inflict to acquire something. People have died/killed for God, for country, for love, etc. These then havta matter in some way or another, oui mes amies?
  • TiredThinker
    819


    Good advice, and nice new avatar
  • Seeker
    214


    One's truth does not in fact make for general truth. Because you like to reflect upon others your truth's so much through the use of analogy here's one for you.

    A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. — I Ching
  • I like sushi
    4.3k
    Maybe you did not read my response. The OP asked how do we decide what matters. I said, plain and clear, we do not ‘decide’ at all. What I say ‘matters’ to me may not actuallu matter at all.

    The OP did not ask ‘does anything matter?’ Also, the last question is incoherent and the person in question has not bothered to correct the grammatical errors so I am still not clear what they were asking there.

    What we wish to do is not always what we ought to do. Nor can one derive what we ought do from what we in fact do. Basic stuff.Banno

    Yes. I never said otherwise.
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