
Painting, "Think Neither Good Nor Evil" by R. Althouse
In our culture we don't like boredom. We might even associate it with depression. Boredom is how we allow ourselves to slow down, to be embodied and to just be in the moment. But for some reason this is not valued much in our culture.
I am a Zen teacher and have practiced meditation most of my life. When I teach meditation to new student I tell them about this study that was done at the University of Virginia.
They did an experiment in which they found people prefer some kind of passive activity like reading or listening to music over spending a few minutes with themselves. Being alone without any diversions was so uncomfortable for many participants that two-thirds of the men and a quarter of the women elected to give themselves a mild electric shock instead.
Why do I tell beginning meditators this story? Because people find it hard to meditate. In other words, they find it hard to be with themselves. Because to meditate is to allow yourself to be bored and in our culture this is considered to be the kiss of death.