The Value of Boredom

     My mother pointed at the wallpaper in the kitchen. A ray of sunlight illuminated  it. The artwork glowed under a warm toned ambiance.
     Over the years I've seen beams of light dancing on that wallpaper. But I'd never recognized them as sources of beauty. Perhaps my inattentiveness was attributable to the time of day. Those light shows happened during late afternoons when I was passing through, rather than hanging out in the kitchen.
     In the final analysis, busyness kept me from noticing.
     We're busier nowadays. Even during relaxation, our brains are busy processing data from televisions and electronic devices. Are creative people--artists, writers, designers, and photographers--becoming less creative from this sensory overload?
     Not too long ago, episodes of boredom happened more often. To get through them, we'd wander outside to view the stars, or lay in bed looking up at swirls of paint on ceilings above us. Boredom served a purpose. It enabled us to think without distraction.
     Boredom inspired creativity.
     Nowadays people deprive their brains of free time. Just thinking about whatever is perceived as  boring. Instead we keep busy, or expose ourselves to a barrage of digital content.
    Creativity is suffering. Have you noticed that it's harder to find novels that hold our attention? Have you noticed the music industry is no longer prolific in the creation of quality? With so many television channels, why do only a few offer top notch programing?
     Here's one answer: Because of digital media, creatives spend too much time viewing or listening to each others work. Input is diminishing the quality of output.
     The situation reminds me of these lyrics from David Bowie's song, Five Years: "My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare. I had to cram so may things to store everything in there."
     There's too much cramming going on. It's hurting creativity. 
     What does the future portend for creatives? Those creatives who spend too much time riding the digital merry-go-round will not reach their potentials. They'll spin in circles rather than breaking new ground. Those creatives who reduce their exposure to the Internet, and find time for boredom, will experience inspiration. They'll create works that resonate.
     This photographer resolves to cut back his time spent on that digital merry-go-round. This photographer intends to get bored more often.
    During The Renaissance, I'll bet Michelangelo devoted time to idleness. He must have understood that inspiration requires nurturing. Who knows, perhaps he too stared up at a ceiling in his bedroom. In those swirls of paint he might have conceived his greatest work later drawn on another ceiling, the one inside the Sistene Chapel.
     If Michelangelo were alive today, he'd carry a flip phone rather than a smart phone loaded with apps.