Member-only story
What the ancient Stoics can teach us about the importance of boredom
‘Never enough time to do all the nothing we want’
This month, our throughline for dialogue and reflection is ‘There’s Never Enough Time to Do All the Nothing You Want’ — A Case for Boredom. We explore what we can learn about boredom from the ancient Stoics, creative titans and surprising neuroscience. We consider why boredom is vital for learning, creativity and innovation.To kick off this month’s throughline, we look back at wisdom from stoic philosophy.
A time without the ubiquitous connection or insatiable demands on our attention. It provides a powerful provocation and reflection about what we deal with daily and how we might better design our time.
Ultimately this throughline is about creating the ideal conditions for mindfulness and creativity.
Let’s start with a quick introduction to who the Stoic philosophers were.
Who were the Stoic philosophers?
The Stoics were a school of thought that arose in ancient Greece and Rome. They believed that the key to living a good life was maintaining a sense of detachment from the things we could not control.
This included our emotions, desires, and the ever-changing whims of fortune. The Stoics believed that by remaining detached, we could avoid being disappointed or upset when things did not go our way.
Some key figures within Stoic philosophy were Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor, and Seneca, a statesman and philosopher. Epictetus was an enslaved person who later became a Stoic teacher.
In their writings, they often discussed the importance of remaining calm and detached in facing adversity.
For example, Marcus Aurelius wrote:
That things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving, outside it. Disturbance comes only from within — from our perceptions.
This is from the Emperor’s deeply personal Meditations, which he wrote during periods of significant stress. In it, he reflected on Stoic philosophy and how it could help him deal with his challenges.
