Cultivating Boredom - Part I

Note: For this two-part blog I want to first propose some instructions for reading. First, find some rather mindless, repetitive, and/or boring task. Some examples may be mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, folding clothes-while NOT watching TV, or... painting a gazillion dots on dominoes that have been painted on canvas (I can supply you with ample opportunity for this last item, if you’re interested.). Read over the quotes on this first part right before performing that task, using the freed up mental space to reflect on the quotes. Then, read my comments on Part II (to be posted tomorrow). Finally, apply these thoughts by reviewing the ‘facts’ of any situation you feel needs to be worked through before engaging in any of the tasks mentioned above, again using the available mental activity to reflect on your situation. Repeat that last step as necessary until something materializes.

I’m borderline obsessive on connections. What I mean is, I tend to read a ton of (often) different material, and the things I live for are those moments when some idea presented in one book, seems to sound an awful lot like an idea put forth in another book, which, in turn, corresponds to something going on in my life. The resultant web of connections brings new understanding, greater insight, and (hopefully) an increase in the effectiveness in my daily actions/interactions. There have been several such connections made in the past few months that have set me on new levels of hope and faith so I thought I’d share a specific example. So for Part I we’ll just look at the raw data. Consider the following quotes/situations:

Book I: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.
“She seems so depressed sometimes by the monotony and boredom of her city life, I thought maybe in this endless grass and wind she would see a thing that sometimes comes when monotony and boredom are accepted.”

“The engine consists of a housing containing a power train, a fuel-air system, an ignition system, a feedback system and a lubrication system.
The power train consists of cylinders, pistons, connecting rods, a crankshaft and a flywheel.
The fuel-air system components, which are part of the engine, consist of a gas tank and filter, an air cleaner, a carburetor, valves, and exhaust pipes.
The ignition system consists of an alternator, a rectifier, a battery, a high voltage coil and spark plugs.
The feedback system consists of a cam chain, a camshaft, tappets and a distributor.
The lubrication system consists of…
The first thing to be observed about this description is so obvious you have to hold it down or it will drown out every other observation. This is: it’s just duller than ditchwater. Yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah, carburetor, gear ratio, compression, yah-da-yah, pistons, plugs, intake, yah-da-yah, on and on and on… Dull, awkward and ugly…But if you can hold down that most obvious observation, some other things can be noticed that do not at first appear.”

“When cleaning I do it the way people go to church- not so much to discover anything new, although I’m alert for new things, but mainly to reacquaint myself with the familiar. It’s nice sometimes to go over familiar paths.
Zen has something to say about boredom. Its main practice of “just sitting” has got to be the world’s most boring activity…Yet in the center of all this boredom is the very thing Zen Buddhism seeks to teach. What is it? What is it at the very center of boredom that you’re not seeing?”

Book II: Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin by Lawrence Weschler.
“I started spending the time just sitting there looking. I would look for about fifteen minutes and just nod off, go to sleep. I’d wake up after about five minutes, and I’d concentrate and look,… and I’d nock off again. It was a strange period. I’d go through days on end during which I’d be taking these little half-hour, fifteen-, twenty-minute catnaps about every half hour- I mean, all day long… It was a pretty hilarious sort of activity… I put myself in that disciplined position, and one of the tools I used was boredom.”

Personal Life Situation:
Dwelling in the Word. There may be a couple of you who read this that may not be familiar with this term. There are several churches in the area (and throughout the U.S./world(?)) that are going through a process called Partnership for Missional Church through an organization called Church Innovations. One of the core practices in this process (a process that lasts about 3 years) is called ‘Dwelling in the Word.’ We take a passage, and every time we meet together as a church, we spend time in that one passage for an entire year. It’s a practice that will often make you...bored with the particular passage.

Hhhhmmmmmmm.......