An Exodus From Consuming Ourselves

By Shaikh Aafreen

Boredom allows for a moment of mixed emotions to be experienced and these experiences —quietness, happiness, giddy feeling, reverence, irritation, fear, gratitude, some sweet tears, and shock, shocks that are a big part of our lives, they become easy to take in—they shape us into who we are, into healthy individuals if the inner and the outer world merge and allow us. A society which doesn't allow this waste to happen (waste: labelled as such by today's consumerist and pro-productive society) doesn't allow originality. Original thoughts and ideas, creation of unique perspective, branches of niche subjects emerge largely with the help of still and quiet boredom.

Sitting with rot, becoming rot, allowing rot to give birth, is what allows us to be humans. Time is never wasted, the time used to sit by the oceans, gaze at the stars, delve into the coffee cup, caste shadows upon the shoulders of window, count the particles in the flow of sunlight, or just the retrieval of your body and soul into the dark corners of your room to gain some relief from constant performance. This is not a waste: time that rises and settles inside your own body can never be spoiled, it just isn't possible. The spoilage or wastage of potential if we were to take a breath is a concept made by hunger and the hungry to keep us salivating after the image they portray as oh! So inspiring and passionate about their potential. A person's value doesn't just equate to how much produce he can pump out in his life preferably without any break.

Society that measures its progress and its individual value solely based on being worn out—because of passion or coercion of physically, emotionally and mentally taxing work is bound to negate or be blind to the intrinsic value of humans, their relationship with each other, the moments they create of art and love. This type of society is violent in its pursuit of outputs, it forces us all into an endless labyrinth of comparison. Takes away pleasure of doing things ‘just because,’ replaces pleasure with anxiety, replaces stillness with jitters. States that it's useless and lazy to stop creation and consumption. The reality is that they are violating our fundamental human rights to exist, for their equation is existence=production (produce that is sellable, quantitive, and profitable.)

This is also why in modern human lives dissociation is a prevalent cause and effect of lack of closeness with other humans. This creates a cycle of insidious harm perpetuated by the completion of performing consumerism and production beyond the yearly margins and goals and defeat of the rival companies. 

The harm done by this culture of mindlessness is far more than we have been anticipating. But the solution to this is quite simple: we need to pause—take a breath—loosen our shoulders and allow ourselves some time to just experience our own bodies, to revel in its dark-dim or light-bright, small and vast corners and have the courage to spell and incorporate the myriad ways our consciousness reaches out to us.

By Shaikh Aafreen