Life In the Wake of Peak Humanity Is Boring

The mind wanders, it never rests.

Every day I go walking. I have a little world in my head. On my trails, I run thought experiments to try to understand my experience in this world. When I’m walking, I think. I don’t play any music. No podcasts. I don’t talk on the phone with anyone. This is my time.

I walk to hear my own voice, I want to know what I’m thinking. I walk to decide what I want to do with my time. Sometimes I walk for writing prompts.

While I’m walking, I’m planning my walk so that I have 10,000 steps by the end of the day. I’m planning the evening. What I want to do while my kids wash up for the day. What I’m going to talk about with my wife. Or maybe I’ll plan the next day. There is always something to do.

In this life, there is no escape from something to do. Pay the bills. Do the wash. Clean the kitchen. Wash the car. Gas the car. Take the car in for service. Check my email. Check Twitter. Spend too much time on Twitter. Figure out how to limit the time my kids spend on their computers, even though they’re only doing what their parents do. Take care of myself.

All of us are looking for something to do with our time on this earthly plane, in this experience. When we’re busy, we think we’re trying to escape boredom.

I'm a Beatles fan. I still play their music from time to time because it’s so visceral and lucid. I’m easily lost in their music. One fact about the Beatles that is rarely discussed is that they were often bored.

At the height of Beatlemania, Paul, George, John and Ringo could not go out anywhere without being swarmed by teenage girls. At their concerts, the screaming was so loud that they often could not even hear their own music. So they spent a lot of time in hotel rooms, and that’s where they wrote their songs while on tour.

I don’t think they could have written very good songs if there was an iPad in the room. If there was a computer with internet access in the room, that would be a source of endless distraction. They’d make music for the likes and the follows. They wouldn't dare to make the next new sound.

So I allow time for myself to be bored. I allow time for myself to not have anything to…