When you know ordinary things too well, you get bored; only the limitless (meditation, a living Buddha, the divine) keeps feeling new forever.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, there is a saying in sanskrit: ati parichayat avagyo -- too much acquaintance with the things, people and events of this world brings boredom. But in so much acquaintance with you not only the boredom does not set in but even the acquaintance does not seem to happen. On the contrary, the feeling of knowing you less and less grows. What is this mystery?
It is ulatbansi! As the acquaintance grows, boredom sets in; that is the law of the world. They grow in the same proportion, because acquaintance means no more curiosity -- whatever was worth knowing has become known. Acquaintance means, now nothing remains to be sought after, all is familiarized. So the race of the mind in the name of search, curiosity, eagerness, is demolished. This is what boredom means, that there is now no activity left with which the mind can keep itself occupied. This is the law of the world. And wherever something contrary is happening, you can be sure it is some phenomenon of beyond the world. If your eagerness and curiosity also grow along with your familiarity with someone -- the more familiar you get the more attraction you feel, and the more you know the person the more reveals itself to be explored -- then this…
Osho, there is a Sanskrit aphorism: ati-parichayāt avajñā — from excessive familiarity comes contempt. With all things, persons, and events here, when there is too much familiarity the mind gets bored. But with you, not only does excessive familiarity not breed contempt, even familiarity does not happen; on the contrary, unfamiliarity keeps increasing. What kind of mystery is this?
It is a paradox! As familiarity grows, boredom arises — this is the rule of the world. The more familiarity, the more boredom. Because familiarity means curiosity is lost; what there was to know has been known. Familiarity means nothing remains to search for; recognition has happened. Then the mind’s run — its search, its inquisitiveness, its eagerness — is finished. Boredom simply means the mind has no activity left. This is the worldly rule. And wherever the opposite happens, understand that the event is outside the world. If with someone, as familiarity grows, your curiosity grows; the more familiar you become, the more your attraction increases; and the more you know, the more opens up to be known — such a person we have called one who has attained Buddhahood, nirvana, liberation. You can never exhaust such a one; if you could exhaust him, he belonged to the world.…
If you become sated with any thing, you will become bored. In this world there is nothing—nothing—which, upon obtaining, will not bore you. Yes, taste remains only so long as it is not obtained. So long as it is far, while the hand is stretched and that thing has not come into it—only then can you be full of juice. As soon as it is gotten, boredom arises. In this world, all things, if tasted daily, provoke anxiety. I have heard: the emperor of Mulla Nasruddin’s land, to enjoy his jokes and wit, kept him near. On the first day the emperor sat to dine and seated Nasruddin with him. A certain vegetable pleased the emperor very much. Nasruddin said: Of course you like it; this is not a vegetable—it is nectar. He praised its qualities so glowingly that the emperor ordered the cook to make that vegetable daily.
Osho, I get bored reading your books. I don’t even feel like meditating. And the desire to listen to taped discourses is next to nothing. Even in your discourses I can tell in advance what you are going to say. Still there is no transformation—why? And if there has been no transformation, then why do I feel bored with reading, listening and meditating? And, Master, don’t you get bored repeating the same thing day after day?
So a difference has come. Of those who came to me in those days, ninety-nine percent have left. I knew they would. I had not really spoken for them. It was only because of the one percent who remained that I had to speak even to the ninety-nine percent. I have chosen those few. Now, even here, I am not speaking to a crowd. I no longer speak by paying much attention to you. I don’t worry whether it will interest you or not, whether it will appeal to you or not. I do not speak keeping you in mind. Now my attention is on what I have to say. And gradually I would prefer that those who do not find it interesting, who feel bored—step aside, take their leave. Because I will go deeper and deeper. Soon a moment will come when only a very few birds will remain…
What exactly is boredom? If I don't do something, even something needless, a panic arises, a huge fear. What is it that causes this frenzy of movement? Why am I so uncomfortable with this feeling? The frustration of boredom increases when I think that what I would do is equally a meaningless frenzy. I feel caught.
ABHA, BOREDOM IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN HUMAN LIFE. Only man is capable of boredom; no other animal is capable of being bored. Boredom exists only when mind starts coming closer and closer to enlightenment. Boredom is just the polar opposite of enlightenment. Animals cannot become enlightened, hence they cannot become bored either. Boredom simply shows that you are becoming aware of the futility of life, its constant repetitive wheel. You have done all those things before -- nothing happens. You have been into all those trips before -- nothing comes out of it. Boredom is the first indication that a great understanding is arising in you about the futility, meaninglessness, of life and its ways. Now, you can respond to boredom in two ways. one is what is ordinarily done: escape from it, avoid it, don't look eye to eye into it, don't encounter it. Keep…