There is something incredibly perverse, and thus it is what makes some people feel especially powerful, in spending a great deal of time, effort and money in extremely superficial matters — the art, science and craft of perfecting it to the limit, of finding the proper balance, matching the right color and, finally, comparing the achievements and compositions with peers that are interested in the same. All this, of course, should come with sprezzatura (a forgotten concept of the XVI Century created by Baldassare Castiglione): everything should look effortless, everything should come easy, in order to look smart, wise, strong. Anything that demands too much effort is simply a task for a professional, not for the noble man).

From the Facebook profile pic of a friend.

I’ve always thought of boredom as one of two essential positions in life: nothing is interesting against everything is interesting. Like Blur x Oasis: upper class versus working class. 

Beyond class conflicts, to me it has always been impossible to think that nothing is interesting. At least until we figure out what is the origin of the Universe (the meaning of life is less important than that question, at least in theoretical basis). Until that is answered, to me there is little space for being bored. Furthermore: the chance of being hit by an airplane at any given moment, the chance of a nuclear war, the chance, chance. Very little space or time for being bored.

But then, again, here is the counterpart: we cannot know the origin of the Universe and you are not researching it — you can be bored. If you are hit by a truck, that was it — nothing else, nothing much. If the world is blown away, so be it — at least it is a change. Now, a lot of time and space for being bored: except that there is so much going on (the arts, the culture, science? no — a lot going on Facebook, for instance). TV after TV, status update after status update — how chilling, riveting is to know about my friend’s lives! So there is very little space or time for being bored — and that’s exactly the boring part.

Being bored used to be the alienation of those who had everything and wanted to do nothing. Nowadays, people do nothing all the time — they are busy with a lot of nothings! No spacecrafts being build, no rockets to new planets — the billions are in social networks and little photographs we call friends. So being bored is counter-revolutionary: being bored may be the best one can do.