Escaping the trap of boredom

Boredom is an inherent problem in a life filled with comforts. As one gets satiated with material objects, the mind turns to more challenging forms of desire. The need to do something, ordinary or extraordinary, becomes a source of pleasure. Such a life is called experiential and is very popular with the younger generation. Can a person find satisfaction and happiness in this kind of life? An ancient story of King Sibi deals with this.

Sibi was certainly experiential. He demanded a new experience every day. His courtiers were at a loss but could not say anything, fearing his ire. One day a magician arrived at the court and asserted that he could show the king something he had never seen before. Sibi was game for the experience.

Closing his eyes as commanded by the magician, he found that he had moved far away from his court, into a forest where he was hopelessly lost. Racked with hunger and thirst, he was begging a woman with a pot of water to give him some, only to be told that he would have to ask her father. In desperation, he followed her home. Her father insisted that if he wanted food and water, he would have to marry her and live in the forest. He did.

In time, she bore him four sons. Years passed by and the boys grew up. Life seemed settled but then came a severe drought and there was nothing left in the forest. His wife did not survive and he had to move. The elder boys decided to go their own way. The youngest, to whom Sibi was most attached, became weak with hunger. Unable to bear the thought of losing the boy, Sibi decided to cut his own arm, roast it on a hot stone, and feed it to the boy.

At this point, the magician commanded him to open his eyes. He was back in his court. Nothing had changed here, but Sibi was a changed man. In the two minutes that the magician had taken him through an entire lifetime, he had been forced to contemplate on helplessness, attachment and illusion.

Aristotle opined that such contemplation was really intense activity which left a person energised and helped her escape the trap of boredom.