A superficial freedom to wander aimlessly here or there, to taste this or that, to make a choice of distractions is simply a sham. It claims to be a freedom of "choice" when it has evaded the basic task of discovering who it is that chooses. It is not free because it is unwilling to face the risk of self-discovery.

--Thomas Merton

Boredom (a kind of pain)

Boredom (a kind of pain)
marks the absence of appreciation.
Appreciation (which is of course subjective)
results in amusement.
Amusement we like.
Sometimes (being silly)
we seek amusement
with no regard for the roots of it:
appreciation, however mundane.
We induce hilarity, then,
or other forms of coercion.
Soon, though, follows boredom
(a kind of pain):
the absence of love
for our simply appreciative selves.

 

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