KIERKEGAARD: How To Avoid Boredom and Maximise Happiness

In Either/Or, Kierkegaard dedicates a chapter on the problem of boredom and the difficulty of maintaining happiness, and proposes his solution for it through the aesthetic sphere of existence.
To explain how one avoids boredom, the aesthete’s worst enemy, he proposes “crop rotation” as an attempt at a theory of social prudence. It is a sort of science of seeking pleasures characteristic of the reflective aesthete, and not mindlessly doing it as an unreflective aesthete, such as the legend of Don Juan.
This method can be done extensively or intensively. The aesthete proposes the intensive cultivation of pleasure as the means to avoid boredom, achieve pleasure and subsequently, happiness.
However at the end, it seems that the aesthete's way of approaching happiness is erroneous. For happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue.
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📚 Recommended Reading (High Quality and Best Translations)
▶ Either/Or (1843)
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▶ The Concept of Anxiety (1844)
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▶ Stages on Life's Way (1845)
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▶ The Present Age (1846)
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▶ Works of Love (1847)
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▶ The Sickness unto Death (1849)
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▶ The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air (1849)
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⌛ Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Boredom
5:10 Crop Rotation: Extensive Cultivation
6:33 Crop Rotation: Intensive Cultivation
7:35 Remembering and Forgetting
10:33 Arbitrariness
13:00 Conclusion
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📝 Sources
- Either/Or. Penguin Classics. Translated with an introduction by Alastair Hannay
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#kierkegaard #boredom #happiness

[@Eternalised]

*"People of experience maintain that it is very sensible to start from a principle. I grant them that and start with the principle that all men are boring. Or will someone be boring enough to contradict me in this?"* - Søren Kierkegaard Become a Patron (exclusive content): www.patreon.com/eternalised KZbin Member (exclusive content): kzbin.info/door/qos1tl0RntucGGtPXNxkkAjoin Official Merch: eternalised.creator-spring.com Donate a Coffee: ko-fi.com/eternalised

[@alyssaenriquez6727]

Very interesting hearing this take on the motives of motion of one's life. The general population tends to lean towards "the next best thing" or constantly filling needs from one craving to another, therefore stifling boredom and unhappiness with never-ending wanting and needing of things that will never satisfy entirely. This leads to the consumeristic society we live in now. Also allowing what you said about the unconscious mind ruling over their life and avoiding the questions within all of us, (which when attempted to answer furthers inwards development) that point towards fears of the unknown and what it means to truly be happy, along with other questions of existence. Instead accepting a mentality that destroys individualism, which is what leads them to boring others through the lack of recognition of their own power, which is what makes you unique and entertaining. That being said, the idea of gratitude is understood through the lens of arbitrary nature, which is another way of saying, you must be the one to place meaning in things or find a catalyst of perception in understanding through separating perspective apart from only taking what's intended to be given in order to prevent yourself from the grasp of boredom, desensitization (when things become habitual or the norm), and lack of meaning. This also leads to the idea that every situation, no matter how small (as you mentioned about the dripping sweat for example) contains infinite possibilities for what you may take out of it, which is why the true power in arbitrary nature is that YOU create the meaning and interest out of those infinite possibilities. When you are the one creating the meaning and interest, you are involving yourself personally in any given situation just based on allowing your unique perspective to exist out of nothing. Creation is one of the highest forms of nutrition in terms of your spirit, very wild how it connects even on the most minuscule terms of random bais of the mind to escape the intended purpose of a situation. Definitely gave me some food for thought with this one, love your videos! I'm sure it must be hard not to fall into rabbit holes when talking about such broad topics, but you do a good job of saying plenty but not too much to confuse the main point. Keep up the great work!:)

[@DeidreL9]

Honest to God, I’m so happy to have found this channel. This video is just…sublime. It’s all so true. I’ve often wondered about boredom throughout history…it’s just not realistic to believe everyone was just focussed and content with their lot, birthing endless bored babies and peeling their potatoes. Thank heavens there’s curiosity and creativity. And food. Seriously, l believe the main reasons many of us get by are carbohydrates and chocolate. I’m bingeing on your Jung videos right now. Brilliant channel, brilliant.

[@WeAreAllOneNature]

11:13 ''It takes little to please a child.'' 12:47 to 12,59 ''...even the least significant thing can become a rich source of amusement.''

[@satnamo]

Boredom is the mother of creativity but some men would rather die than to think.

[@sushikome2682]

Thinking is boring.

[@IFYOUWANTITGOGETIT]

Thank you so much for these videos! You have a special gift and skill of communicating these ideas! ❤️

[@Davlavi]

This channel deserves way more views. Keep up the great videos.

[@AmanSingh-mv2lx]

It was so deep that it made me think profoundly of what boring really is. Thank you for your video.

[@momo11407]

I have learned from this video that if you want to have fun in your project, start by interpreting its value differently. Instead of just saying, "This is boring", ask your mind to generate the intention to look for the interesting things in it, and to change the story (interpretation of the work cue) entirely. it is not the work that is troublesome, It is the interpretation that must be modified in order that we find it meaningful. so, all you need is to..maybe.. change your mind.

[@UPSCWay-road_to_upsc]

You have such a great way of talking ,the background art and music is so good.I really love your videos and especially your voice

[@satnamo]

Me too

[@ennuied]

Happiness... is childish. Happiness is unconscious stimulation of senses, hopes and desires, it is fleeting. For a childish man consciousness is like fire that burns but does not warm.

[@WhiteWolf--]

"Those who do not bore themselves are generally those who are busy in the world in one way or another, but that is just why they re the most boring, the most insufferable, of all." Daaamn, my boy Kierkegaard was a savage 🤣

[@guadalupe8589]

Can you do a video about the works of Emil Cioran?

[@PedroHLima12]

Great summary and explanation of the chapter!

[@spicylemon9339]

I like being bored, not a sickening bored but I dont need to always be doing something

[@raison3342]

thx for the video s2

[@beingisthebestjoy]

Kierkegaard was mindful

[@ghirardellichocolate201]

Smart person knows when to stay silent.

[@rockfitclub]

love

[@glendanison3064]

This was boring. Yes, it's a dumb comment, all I could come up with. I'm so boring I couldn't think of anything even slightly clever.

[@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060]

It was a clever comment though, until you elaborated on it.

[@silasditzer]

This is hilarious

[@bAa-xj3ut]

💚💚💚💚💚

[@LeeGee]

How do you pronounce Paris?

[@nathanielbeha833]

Like the prince of troy? I pronounce it the same as the city tbh. I have no idea if that's correct though.

[@ingenuity168]

When you're bored, jump in the lake.

[@loplop7029]

“How to avoid boredom and maximize happiness!” Don’t read Kierkigaard!

[@alanmendes3666]

Read Emil Cioran!

[@loplop7029]

@@alanmendes3666 Will do.

[@Androktasiai444]

11:54 redpill of the century

[@itzkkkkkkaiman]

I dont see why a person cant be both aesthetic and ethical. For example, a Doctor that takes his work seriously, cares about his patients, and behave professionally at work can still go to raves on the weekend and enjoy worldly pleasures. It's all about balance.

[@ZazarStudios]

I'm pretty sure Either/or discussed that the aesthetic joy doesn't necessarily go away with a step into ethical. It's more so that you aren't a slave to mundane pleasures.

[@YousefGingo]

So... how do I avoid boredom and maximize happiness?

[@heathermcdermott2171]

Suck farts 💨 out of dead ☠️ seagulls 🤣

[@kenny_bol9445]

Drugs.

[@johncollins211]

Service to others. Sorry but i cannot think of another answer for that question im boring lol.

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

I guess the better your imagination is the less of a problem boredom is huh?

[@roger_isaksson]

I think Kierkegaard was a bore. Yes, people are boring. Zero philosophy, zero life. Merely default repetitions in the mystery of existence itself.

[@decentralizehedgefundwsb5263]

Today I'm super bored 😒

[@a-cd6982]

This how I’m going to homeschool my children

[@nicholasbelz3988]

This seems like a pretty big misreading of Kierkegaard. Your attributing what the aesthete says as something advocated by Kierkegaard, when in reality Kierkegaard was creating two opposing views under pseudonyms that cannot be directly attributed to him, yet that's exactly what you did. The whole point of Either/Or is that both authors, despite having lived experiences that justify their views, are too extreme in their beliefs. The solution Kierkegaard later proposes is that one must use the idea of faith to place themselves somewhere in between the two. This video would be more accurate if it was presented as the idea of Kierkegaard's aesthete, not Kierkegaard himself. Also there is the whole thing of how the aesthete is a student of Hegel.

[@Eternalised]

I do not think I have misrepresented him. I stated at the start that Kierkegaard writes pseudonymously and that the aesthete is anonymous. Either/Or is of course compiled from Victor Eremita who finds two notes in a secret compartment from two of the life spheres: aesthetic & ethical, I have made a video on that book as well. The purpose of this video was solely to represent the aesthetic sphere of existence, at the end of the video - I mention him warning us against this perspective through the Seducer's Diary and subsequently contrasting the ethicist's view, Kierkegaard of course wants the reader to read both sides, as in his time they were actually published in separate books, the aesthetic part being sold much more than the ethical. Hence why I state at the end that the viewer has to make his own conclusion.

[@nicholasbelz3988]

@@Eternalised Hmmm, I suppose you're right that you acknowledge the fact that Kierkegaard warns us against this. Still, I feel it is a little misleading to only explore the idea of the aesthete in isolation, when it connects to so many other aspects of Kierkegaard's (and others) work that should be considered to gain a complete understanding. I appreciate your response though.

[@AG10381]

@@nicholasbelz3988 Kierkegaard can be easily misinterpreted. It was quite clear for me that this is to be taken as irony - but perhaps it is because I have read Kierkegaard enough, the average viewer might not catch up on such intricacies. The aesthete trying to seek happiness only to end up in despair, which is noted on at the end of the video - this video is presented just as Kierkegaard did with his audience, to stimulate his readers thoughts. Kierkegaard ultimately accepts the religious stage, but it isn't too clear if that is worth more than the other stages, in other words, he emphasizes inwardness as what drives an individual and one may jump from one stage or another or be in both stages simultaneously overlapping, it isn't clear that the ethical stage is superior than the aesthetic and that the religious is the most superior of all, as that would contradict his inwardness. Kierkegaard himself regretted not marrying Regine Olsen on his deathbed! The sacrifice of the religious over the ethical stage. It is ultimately up to the individual who has to test himself against life.

[@0RTH0CHAD]

@@nicholasbelz3988 How is it "misleading" that he explore the existence of the aesthete and its philosophy in this particular video? After all, the book is very rich in insights and information, are you expecting him to explore all the other aspects of the book in this one particular video? (that would rather be a very long video) He was only simply wanting to present the aesthete's sphere of existence in this video, not much yet the other aspects of Kierkegaard's philosophy. (though on other videos he made on Kierkegaard, he did represented Kierkegaard's all 3 modes of existence and what Kierkegaard's ultimate solution was) It's not relevant then to point out why he "only explore the idea of the aesthete in isolation" and his seemingly misrepresentation of Kierkegaard's philosophy, when he clearly does understood Kierkegaard's philosophy and his solution to the people. The topic of boredom are discussed mostly within the aesthete's sphere of Kierkegaard's work, hence why "Eternalised" represented these insights as such in this video. It's not "misrepresenting" at all.

[@Booren]

I didn't understand anything

[@callmeabd6546]

Gg

[@apathetic6309]

Couldn’t finish…too boring…yawn

[@bonggojbihonggo991]

👌👌 🇧🇩