Boredom

Beloved Osho, how is one to overcome boredom? How can one rediscover mystery in things that have become boring, repetitive, demystified?

What to do? Meditate. Whenever you see a thing which you feel is old, meditate. Look deeper, look again, think twice, feel, touch, be sensitive. Try to discover something new in it and you will always be enriched, you will always find something new there. Sometimes sit with your wife or with your child, with your friend, and look in the eyes, touch the face as if you are meeting for the first time. Close your eyes, put the light off, touch the face of your wife or your husband and feel the lines, the curves, as if for the first time. And suddenly the boredom will disappear, the person will become new. The person has always been becoming new only you never touched, your touch was dead. You never felt, your feeling was dead. "How is one to overcome boredom?" The first thing to remember, drop your pattern; your…

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.…

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…