Chapter Two ‘The First Form of Boredom: Besoming Bored by Something $19, The qustianabloness of boredom. Avakening ths fndamental attancment as etng it Be ove ‘a ganding agin fling asleep. By drawing stention to this profound boredom, it now seems as though we Ihave done what we were attempting to avoid from the outst, namely ascer- taining a fundamental attunement. Yet have we ascertained a fundamental tunement? By no means We cannot ascertain one all indeed we are quite Unable o do 4, snc it i eiely possible for everyone o deny that such an ltunement there. We hive not asetained one at all indeed eversone wil ‘ay we have arbitrarily assorted tht sch an llunement is at hand. Yet what ia isue snot wheter we deny itor asert it Let us simply real whist we asked: Do tings ultimately stand in such way with us that profound boredom dvs back and forth ikea ent fog inthe abysses of Dasein?| "Nevertheless so long at this boredom reins questionable, we cannot awaken it, Or can we perhaps do so aftr al? What dos it mean to say that, ‘his boredom fs questionable or us? lial this amounts to ssyngin formal terms that we donot know whether this attunement pervades us or not, Who ‘we? We do nt know this. This not knowing and not being sequintd with this horedom-does it aot pos also belong to the way in whic we ar tor siuaton? Why do we not know about Because its perhaps not there at all! Or-becase we dono wan o know about if? Or do we know about it afer all? Are we meri lacking courage concerning what we know? Ts the fend we do not want fo know of i ut constantly seek 10 escape it IP ‘constantly seek to escape rom i itis way, we ultimately ave a bad con science in so doing, we cling othe exeses sociated with such bad conseience and are consoled by persuading ourselves and proving io ourselves that we Jo not know of therefore its nt ther How do we escape this boredom [Langevin which we find, a5 ve courses sy, that fine bosomes dan out, becomes ong an?! Simply by ‘tal times making an efor, whether consciously or unconsciously, to pas ‘he ime, by welcoming highly important and essential prececupation for te 1. Hee is he aie hl ting fhe Gas wor fr Br age ong se Theemprl sme c Msean reign ena fore etloag uty of eset Son] ‘$19 [118-197 y sole reson that they take up ou time, Who wil deny this? Yet do we then Sl asd to frst ascertain the fact ha his boredom is hee? "Yet wht doc t mean to that we div ay [erteben] and shake off bored We constantly ese 0 fll ale For evidently we cannot anni- hilt it by passing the time however intensively We"know'~ in strange kind fof Knowing that boredom can return at anytime Thus i is aleady thee ‘We shake it off We puczed in making flat We wish to know nothing oft This doesnot at all mean that we donot wish robe conscious oft, But father that we do not wish It tbe awake—it this boredom whe, inthe fd isalteady awake With open eye it loks into our Da-sei abet ently fiom a distance, and with this pie sleady penetrates us and atunes us through and through "eft saleady awake, then surly it doesnot nee to besakened Indeed not, Awakening this fundamental attanement does not mean making it avake in he fis place, but fest be awake, guarding agate fling sleep, We hn ex scfm this that ou task has not become any eases. Perhaps tis task essentially mre cific, smile othe way in which we eam experience st any time that is easier to wake someone up by startling them than to guard ‘aesit them falling aslep. Yet whether our sk s iil o easy snot what ieessential here ‘We ere face far more essential diculy. Not to et boredom fll seep {sa strange or alos insane demand [Zaman Ist nt entirely opposd to what all naturel and sound human eomportment i concerned with every ay and every our, namely to pas the time and precisely not to let boredom fare that 0 hike i off and make i fll sep whenever it approaches? ‘And we ae supposed to et it be awake! Boredom ~bo isnot acquainted with itin the most varie forms and disguises in which it arses, nthe way i often tefl us only fra moment, the wait torments and depresses ws for longer petiods toe. Who does not know tht we ave alieady st about suppressing Jtand ae concemed to dive it away as Soon ai approaches that tis does rot always succvd, tht ined peeely when we set upon it with all the fneans at our disposal it Becomes stubor, obstinate: that it then relly does pest and returns more fequenty, slowly propelling us tothe threshold of nclancholy (Sokwerma? Even when we sussed in shaking it off do we not then know athe sume time tha itmay well turn? Do we nt have dhe strange knowledge that what we have fortunately een driven avy and mad to vanish could at any time be there once agai? And does this belong titi it shows itself to usin this way? ‘Yet to whee dows it vanish, and fom where does this insidious reature tha maintains ts monstrous evenee in our Daseinretura®! Who isnot acquaint bith it-and yet, who ca ay fre what his universal falar phenomenon ‘rope i? What this boredom, such that faced witht we et ourselves the= Fondamental Concepts of Metaphysics (119-21) demand to lt, this very attunement, be ake? Or this boredom that is amie 1 us het inthis Wa. and of which We now speaks indeterminate, mere shadow of ou actual boredom? We indaed asked and are rept {sking: Have things ulmately gone so Tar with us that prof Boredom “ras back and orth ike a ilet fg inthe ase of Dain? $20. The damental torent of Boredom, its relation 10 tims, and the thre metaphysical questions concerning rl, iu, nidaton. “This profound boredom isthe fundamental attanomant. We pass the tne, a conde to master it, because time besos long in boredom, Time becomes ong {or us Ist supposed to be short, then? Docs not each of us wish for tral Jong ime for ourselves? And whenever it does become Tong for us we pss the ‘ime and watd of its besoming lng! We donot want to havea long ne, Bat we hive it nevertheless Borsdom, long time: especially in Alemannic usage, it {mo accident that te have longtime” means the same as tobe homesick’ In this German usage if someone has longtime for... this means he ishomesick for.” Ts this accidental Oris it only wth ificuy that we ae able to gasp and draw upon the wisdom of lange? Profound boredom a homesickness Homescknoss—philosophizing, > heard somewhere, is supposed to be & homesickness Boredom a fundamental attunement of pilosophizing. Bore donk i? Boredom, Langweile— whatever it imate sence may be—shows, partic: lary in our German word, an almost obvious elation 0 tm a way in which tse stand with respect fo tne felng of time. Boredom andthe abestion of Boredom thus lad sto the problem of time We most int et ourseies enter the problem of time inorder to determin boredom a particular elation 0 it Oris it the ther way around, does boredom fst led 1 time, tan Understanding of how tine esanaes in he reid of Da-sein and how i oy because ofthis that we ean ‘et’ and "mancewre' in our customary superticial vay? Or are welling to ask correctly concerning either he st elation tha of boredom fo timeor the Second that of tie to boredom? Yet ater all we ae notin fact posing the problem of tne, the question of hatte but ae posing the three quite diferent questions of what word {Fina and indviduaton ae, Our philosopbizig is meant o be moving nd ‘maintaining isl in the direction of and along the path ofthese tree gues tions. What is more, thse three questions are supposed to spring fom @ fundamental etanement or ws. This attunement, profound boredom only we Knew what itis oF were ven pervaded by this attunement Yet even sssuming that we were pervaded by this Fundamental attunement, what athe $20 121-22) " world does toredom have todo with the question concerming woe, nitude and individuation? We can persive tha this fundamental attunement of bore dom is tid up with time andthe problem of tine. Or are aur ue questions slime ied up with be question of time? I there not an ancient conviction thatthe world and te both originated together. that both are eualy ol ‘equally orginal and related to one another? Is there aot a less venecable, self-evident opinion according to which whatever i iii tompora? Then finite would be bound up with time jut as much as world. Are we not acquainted wit the ancient doctrine of metaphysics acoeding to which some- ‘thing individual becomes this individual thing by virtue of its specific positon i ime, so that ike the fist two questions of world and fnitude, the problem of individuation would aso bea problem of time? Time fr its part stands relation of boredom to us, Boredom is accordingly the fundamental altune- ment of ou philsophizing, in which we develop the three questions of word, nitude, and individuation. Time i thereby itself something that determines usin the working ut of these thee guiding questions. IF tne i ted up with boredom. and on the ater hand is somehow the hiss for ur three questions, ten the fundamental attunement of boredom constitutes an exceptional rla- on to time in human Dasein, and thereby offers an exceptional possibilty of ering the dee questions, Petaps all his i indeed the case. Ye if 30, then what has besn sid afer all remains only a pre-cursory opening up of & road and as yet obscure perspective. Al this is meant merely to serve toward king more comprehensible the tate of helplessness we shall gt into if me nom to Become involved in boredom withthe intention of expating the re metaphysical questions abore For what remins obscure to us is precisely the extent to which boredom is to be our fundamental attunement, and evidently an eset fund 3 attunement. Perhaps nothing at all ings bell with us, ane noting is sured up, Where might the reason le for this? Perhaps we are not acgusinid this boredom becuse we donot a all understand boredom in is eence Perhaps we donot understand isesenc becauseithas meer et Become exe! Hor us And inthe end it cannot become essential for us because it not only belongs at first and fr the most part to those attunements that we shake on every lives but to those attunements that we donot allow to aLune us as ttuncments even when they are there, Perhaps that very boredom which often ashes past ws ast were ismore essential than shar boredom with which are expisily concerned whenever ths or that particular thing bores us by $rting ss at ae Perhaps hat boredom smoreesenta which tunes ‘ocithernouraly nor unfivourably and yet does tune us but atunes sin | fecha yay that seems as though we were ot attuned at al ‘© Ths superficial oredomiseven meant to lead sito profound boro, 89 it more appropriately, the sperfkal boredom is supposed to manifest ite2 Fundamental Concept of Metaphysics (132-24) the peofouel boredom and to attune us through and through nthe ground of Dascin This Netng cursory. nee boredom must become exe How treweto bungths about? Are weexpcty andintntonally to produce boredom Snourseles? Not aa, Wedo not aed to undertake anything in this espe. On theconteay. wearealvays already ndertakingtoo much. Thisborsombscomes ‘cuenta fits own acon, if nly we are nt opposed 10 iif we dono bays Smumediatel react to poet ourself nstead we make oom frit. Thisis wha ‘nest is earn: noo eis rata ut oe reson Yet how are we to ‘ake Yom for ths inital eset, ungraspable boredom? Oly by a0 sing ‘ppd cit but etng approach wand tll us what itwants what s2ingon Shit, Yeeven too his nasa in te fist pce that we remove fem Fndstrminacy whatever we thus name and apparently know s boredom, Wem dlothis horevex notin the sna ofdssactng some pschologklexpeiess bat in sucha may that we thereby approach ourselves Whom? Oursehes arses sa Dessin (Ambiguity) $21, The interpretation of bored starting from that which is ving Tha which baring a that ich hols ws i ino and leaves ws enpry. The queionabloes of the thie consetional Sehemata of tterpretaton the cause elation, someting ‘pscolopel and anseence. Boredom: if we gather together ll our analyses hitherto, then we have now ‘id numberof things about Hand yet we ae cetin of this: We have nt Set understood it as aunement. We already now, and do not now wish © orgs, that ib notin the fist place mater of interpreting this or thst, fttunement, but thatthe understanding of attunement ultimately demands of tt tansformation in our fundamental conception of man, Attunement, ovr understood ist gives us the posbiity of grasping the Disc of nan ay Such. Attunements are nota class of ved experience, uch that the teal and onder of experiences would themselves remain untouched. Thos from the very beginning we ae inlentionaly et starting out fom boredom. iF ony because it would then ook aloo much as though we wanted rosa to analysis some sprtaal experience in our consciousness. We ae not relly arting from boredom, but rom borings. Put formally, boringness i what sakes something orig what itis whenever iis ora ‘Something boring 1 ting, «Book, a pls. a ceremony, yt also a person. «a group of people indeed even an environment ora plaee—such boring tits fe not boredom itll Or can even boraom be Baring in the end? We shall [Ewe thene questions open and postpone them ust we ae led to thm ou ‘elves Weare suained with such boring things Because in and through her sen ynzesy ® boringnes they cause boredom nu, We become bore by boring things that wear thereby bored. This already presets swith several aspects [0] ht hich Te borne in ts borings [2 coming bored by this hore thing an bing ored wth such thing [3 J horedon sll. Ae thee thre pices whic Bone together? Oris it merely [L] and [2] which belong together? Or are they in several one andthe same, in each ease seen from a diferent perspective? Presumably they are not simply ranged alongside one another. Yet how do they relate to one another? Is what named in hid place merely a combina tion Al this remains questionable, Tp any case we can aleady se one thing boredom isnot simply an iner spiritual experince rather something about ‘it: namely har whe does and which ets beng bored arse, comes toward us preci rom ut of thing thomas Item rather the eae that boredom i outside, seated in what is boring. and creeps into us fom the ouside Srange--ungraspable though this iat fst, we must follow what everday speaking, comportment, and judgment actualy expresses: hat things them sees, people themselves, event and ples themselves are Boring ‘Yer“it willat once be retrted—of what hep iit oust attempt to begin cour interpretation of boredom by characteving what i boring? For a8 Soon ‘we start with what i boring, we wil find ourselves saying” it whatever bors us and thus causes boredom. Mtr all. only out of Boregom can we understand what that which boring isin is boringnss, and not the other way around. Therefore we must indeed begin with boredom ise. This is lwsibl consideration, And yet revs onan ison that conceals te entire problem. For what docs it mean to sy that certain things und peopl enuse boredom in us? Why precily these things ad tat person this place and nt, another! Furthermore, why his thing pow and not at snother ine, and why oes what bored ws earier suddenly not do s at all? There must, after all, be something tha bores usin all hese things. What iit? Where does it come from? That which bores us, wes, causes boredom. What this eaaaton? Does it correipond 10 some proces lke the onset of cold which causes the olin of mercury in 2 thermometer to sink? Cause ffs! Marvelous! Is itsome Kind of process as when one billard bal strikes another and thesby causes movement in the second? ‘We will not get anywhere a al on tis rack, quite spar rom the fact hat, ven this canst relation a we have illustrated twit referene 1 160 bodies making contac and striking one anther. i already entirely problem Ac. How doe boredom bore—how is such thing posible? emphasize ime and again tha we may no tray fom theft that we ind things he ‘eles boring nd sy of them thal the homecare boring, Wesannokexape A al from the task offs, albit not deity, saying what that wich is boring and which influences uss in its Boringnes. This is Why we are asking With respect to the boringness of whatever i boring: what is this? We are4 Fundamental Concepts of Metals 125.27] ssking: what does boring mea, and ae simultaneously asking: what Kind of 2 propery i this? We ind something boring. We find it 0 and say i is Bring. Yet—when ‘wey and mean that this o that boring’ then at fst we no longer think lal ofthe fact that ties boredom or has caused iin us that bores ws “The expression “boring is an abject characteristic. A book, for example, s tu writen, tastes ented and presented: itis boring The book itsel—in itself boring, not onl boring for ws to read and white reading it. bat it ‘self. the intrinsic construction of the book, is boring. Perhaps it aot neces) at al ha in eeaing ths boring book we ae bored jas as om the ‘ther hand it is possible for us toe bored while reading a book which is ewrtheles intresting, We sy such things a5. a mater of course Boringby this we mean wearsome, tedious: it does not simulate and cect it does not give snyting, has nothing o say to us, doesnot concen ws in any way Thisis not yea determination of is essence, however, ul merely finexplanation that nil soggests sel. Yet if we explain whatever is boring inthis way, we have indeed unexpectedly proceeded to interpret the inl ‘objective character of the books borngness as something which concensus in uch and such vty aod therefore stands in such and such relation 0 us tesbjes, to our subjectiviyin lence sin soc and such away, determines fur altnement [ans Bestia. Then borings s 01 someexlusively bjectve property of the book afer all, such us its bad cover. for instance The characteristic of boring’ thus belongs tthe object and is atthe same ime tele 1 the bet. ‘Yeti we lok more closely, this valid only for boringnes and not for the opetyof the book, the fst that hasbeen badly bound. “Bu ca here toed astless and this lead indicates that even this objective characteristic [related tothe subject. That which doesnot arouse any pleasure in vs, but ‘ate the opposite asses. But “had cover’ can eetanly also meun: not Finished in fin enue, and above all durable material. Yet even hee, where ft characteristic of the material lf meant, the subjece-latednes isnot thsent, For what does ‘nondurab’,‘nondasting’ mean? It means in and uring the use we make of it which mays long ime ad thus be demand- ing Thos this characteristic oo i lave to our dealings wth the book and itsconer Therefore ven shoe properties of things which are apparently most ‘bjetve ate rclnted fo the sujet, I is thus noting exceptional for the property “boring to belong tothe object and be reat othe sujet rather Tris Tike this with every property: Nonetheless, we somehow sense that the ‘character ofthe boringnss of book i someing quite diferent from the fact hat tis badly wten and suchlike ‘Natrally—the rep il bo—thisis afer al, an old truth which allies. pilosa has amas maintuined, namely that properties do not accrue 19 $24 p127-20) as things themselves, but are representations ideas that we a subjects transfer ‘onto objects This is suey quite evident precisely in ou ease, concerning the ‘haracteristc of borigness. This case is merely one example of generally recognized fac. All sch properties boring. howful, sid (event, funny (ame}—these properties which have todo with attunement ae relied to the sult in a special sense; not only that, they stem dicey from the subject and its situation. We ransfer subsequently those attunements which things ‘use in us onto the the things themscves. Ever since Aistoles Potics we Ihave had the expression ‘metaphor (hetagap4) for this Even in Antu oeucs twas sen tha ia language and poetic depiction there ae particular ‘statements and conages in which we transfer etegépt) these attunements ‘hat things cause in ussadness, cheerfulness, boringness—out of ouseies tnd onto things Afterall, we kow from school thatthe language of poets, nd everyday Knguistie usage are permeste by such metaphors We speak of {laughing meadow” and do ot mean tit the meadow sl is laughing, we Speak ofa 'chcerfl room’, of melancholy landscape’ The landscape snot tel? melancholy [chwermai, but merely ates on sch a way cates ‘this attunement in us. And siaary withthe boring book ‘Certsn this the general vew and conclusive explanation. However, does it explain anything? Fven if we admit forthe moment that we transfer ont things the elect of an attunement caused in us why do we tanser such characteristics of attunements onto things? After al this does not happen by chance or arbi, but evidently because we find something about vines which demands ot own aoord, ait were that we adres and name them in this way and not otherwise. We may not explain avay this fact ih before we have become Gear in goveral about what lis in the fat that we id the Ianéscape melancholy, the oom cheerful tbe book boring, Even if me admit or the moment that we do “tanse’ something ere, then we do so in the Opinion that whats ansfrred somehow pertain othe hig sl. Surely t ay at ast be asked and even mast be asked: Whar it hen, that ore aes the attunement oF ser rie to tranfrence? IF aleady isin the things themselves, can we then simply speak of a transference? All his isnot $0 selfcvdent feral that ase, wear longer transfering vomething, but in some way apprconding i from the tings thomselres “What have we gained from this appraisal? Nothing at all—with respect to A Getniton of whats boring as soch, Perhape we hve unexpected it pon ‘more general problem, namely what kind of property we are dealing within ‘Beal Right now we sce only this much—nially ia a rough and ready {characterization coming fom the outside: these charters ae onthe one © band objective ones, taken from the objets themselves, fom ou of them, et {4 the ame time subjective ones, and according to the common explanation transferred rom subjects onto obets. Characters such as “boring” ther6 Fundamental Conseps of Metab [129-30] fore Belong 10 the object an ye ae taken from the subject Yet these are contradictory, incompatible determinations fn any case we ate unable to see how they ave posible in ther uni). Nor has it been decided wheter this, twofold characterization actly the facts of the ater allo wheter ituoes not rather distort them fom the outset, no mater how seven i may peas Yeti we ae thus unclear about the general characteristic of the oringness of thing taken as a propery, may we ten hope to explain this articular property in the ight way? Do we then not imply lack any purchase fn the problem? Inde. This only one thing: I we are thus surrounded 1 litcutes then is all the more important to keep our eyes open. Hence wwe donot want to explain the fats ofthe matter by rash theories matter how current or acknowledged they may be. et us return to our Bist characterization of oringnes and of that which & boring, We shall repeat what we mean by i, and how we can explicate boringness in is meenngfl context. We can take wo points fom this TI We sy that the book isweriom’, Tedious Whit we adress boring ‘ve dew fom the tin self nd also mean tas belonging to ths thing [21AK the same time we sty tht the book isnot stimulating or exciting, ides rot offer anything, docs no aflet us IF we paraphrase and explain this quite Spontaneous then Weare speaking unexpected ofa characteris which dos fot have any content of sown, Rather whats essential about ites press treatin usin he way in which Weare afected or not leste, Hitherto we have emphasized omy the relation to the subject. We were surprised by it and perhaps also even led astray. Yet we have completely ‘velooked the way in which me ere explain this characteristic of boringness by direct paraphrase. This i precisely what is important. We did not say that ‘whats boring is that which eases boredom ins. Nor di we merely avoid Suing this in onde, fo instance, not to ave to explain the same by way of the sme (autlogy; for thee is no tautology her. Nor did me even hk thatthe brinnes of what s boring const in cousing boredom. We di 0% think of this ofthis interprettion ~ecause we have no such experience at fil For as elready mentions, its cerainly possible that in reading we hae tov been bored at al that wedi not ave the fein’ tha boredom was Being indocel in us. And yet we cll tbe book boring, and this without saying fnything untrue and without bing. We call the hook boring strsightaws because nraightoway we do Hott all understand “boring” as though it we synonymous wit inducing boredom, We sraighaway tke "borin! as mea ing weurtome, tedious which is otto say indifferent. For if something it srerisome und tedious then this entail that it has not left us compete Indifferent but on the contrary we ae present while reading, gven ovr tit ‘ut not taken Pngenomane byt, Wearsome means: it does not rivet us We fave even over lot get at taken by But merely el in imo (ingehate] $21 pts0-32] ” by i Tedious means it doesnot engros us we ate et empry Her gels If we can see these moments togeter in their unity somewhat mote cas, ‘hen perhaps we have made an nia ai, ox—to put it more cautious) —are ‘moving inthe proximity of proper interpretation: that which bores, Which fs boring 5 dat wich olds ono an et eaves a ps Let ws aoe that the whole view that something indeed iw that the state of boredom i roused, his now vanished. We are not saying tat bore dom has besn induced nus Maybe not yet surly Weare merely paraphrasing this and mean in let that boredom is caused. Nott al. Do We wish 0 389 ascad tht we were alee i such nd such a way and inthis find ourselves spose in such and such a way? We donot mean ths either, for we do not stand foremost merely wish to say what soto eet the Book had on 5 but rather what character the Book self has Hence when wes the book tus, hs means that it cam alloc someone in sich and sich away and bo doing can let someone find themselves disposed in sich and ch a 833. Yet even this not what we wish o express, but rather that the book i such brings nto an attunement tht we woul ike to se suppressed "We are speaking frm ont of an attnerent which fatal snot prowoks al and not with respect to some posible fet that might be caused in ws. For this reason we cannot transfert ono the thing that supposedly eauses ic ther Nor are we speaking fom out ofan atunerent that could be evoked yin its pure possibility. but from out of an attunement which we know eld arse a any tine, bat which we suppress, which we do not Wish to et, arse Is there a cillerence here? Wes fom out of an attunement, but nat out ofa cased effect: from out of a posibleatunement, one that may possibly befalls Is roy out ofan attunement tht we find something this and thus adds i thus This doss nor mean trumserrng an eft and its charac nics ono the inducing ce ‘Yet have we advanced even a singe step with all these discussions? Not at, att On the contrary. now everything relly bas become confused. The simple state of alfsirs—we call a Book Boring, cit causes boredom in us—is completsly mialed and interpreted in contrived and insompreensible wi, And yet—ne do not wish to frceourseles to arive ata bare definition of boringess and boredom in our fist temp, butt understand the problem, However litle consolation the result may beat fis sight, we have neverthcess experienced something een (1 What boring i m0 so called inp because it fects boredom in ux The book is no the outer cause, no is the resulting boredom the iner effet. 2] Therefore, i elucidating the facts of the mater we must dsepard the cause-effect relation. [.} The book must onetiles make itself fl, not, however as an inducing cause, but rather as that which auras This where the question es [4 1 the books born, then his thing outside the soul hs in el something of the possible, perhapss Fundamenal Concept of Metaphysis [132-35] ven suppressed attunement tht it ia us. Thus, although i sini, the “rrmemen plays eound the thing outside at the sae tne and inde without tur transferring any dod attunement rom within ws outside onto the thing, {51 The thing ean ultimately be boring only because the attunement already pliys around it It doesnt cause the boredom, yet or does itrceive it mery Thsomething tributed bythe subject In short: boredom—and ths lima) ‘ery attunement a Hybrid, pry objective partly subjective. $22, Methodological dective forthe interpretation of ecoming bored: avoiding the approach of an ans of onseioanes and mintoning the immediacy of eerdy ‘asin: interpretation of Border terms of passing the Time a our immediate relation 1 boredom. ‘Wis mot this rest that interests howeer, but the question: Hy atone ment such tbr? Has this something to do with attunement ito with, the way in which we explain stand attempt to explain i Is attanement imately something totaly diferent and fre from any brid characteris? ‘We ma) be permitted ta ak these questions, yet then reminded of what we realy sought fo do, and have now achieve. We Wanted, aerall to dea wth the borngnes of what is boring and specicll aot with boredom, and yet, tee have been led to borsdom afterall. Certainly, me se that boredom Connected with becoming Bored and with being bored. Yet we can se with sual clarity that i we now consider Becoming bored and being bored. we ‘nay no longer coder them as some subjective sate occurring in «subject Tasted we must from the outset and in principle take into account what i boring as walleach spi thing "What does ll this tell us? We cannot characterize what is boring as such at all unless we clay se what tis general, namely something that atu fs in such and such away. Tis means that we ae already encountering 30 ‘Seema! question: Whar des tan oatune? We cannot spy sy that “tune means to cause an attunement, Wave thus discovered his qustion—@ posible problem, one which i uavoidabe and far more esata than ans SSemingly plausible explanation ofthis questonable characteristic, "boring ‘With great laoriousess we have this merely arcved ata negative esl ‘Yetdo we ned to go to such lengths ost tose this? Can we nt achive this result mich more ditty and indeed with a positive content at the same tie? Becoming bored obviously means becoming bored by something, being bored ‘obviously mens being bored wih apd doing something. Comers, ome thing boring fs “elated” to bocoming bored, or at Feast to potential for becoming bored, Tati clear I we put sik this the tyes as thous $22 {138-38} » tie might have gained new bas And yet this clarity reveals itself as an sion assoon as we real that ths eating ofa subjective state of attunement tan objective thing, and vie-versa is entirely questionable This is precisely what ed us asay ina mistaken dretion of questioning 1 we now ivesigate Becoming bored and being bored, then its ntl of ite help to say that being bored is being bored with and a. Its pecialy of mo elp i we prooed in such aways to understand what is boring as an objet to which we relat though in a diferent way than in [owing wing For the problem i precisely ths elatednes fundamental ‘character Top tin general tems: determining our atanenent sere to Be _rispeds something atuning un such and such away, and this eng aud {sto be grasped asthe fndamental mature of ur Dae. To ask this concretely ‘nce again: Whenever we love Something thing or indeed w human being. is what or who we love merely the cause arising omewhere ofa state arising in sa sate we transfer onto what we call ur beloved? OF course ot, i wil tesa forthe beloved is simply the obj of our loving. Yt what does ‘jet mean here? Something our love stumbles across and clings 10? Ori al this fot merely stated in superficial way, but fundamentally wong sit not the se thal in Tove we do not stumble upon an abject a al yet noneticeslove Something? This may stand merely asa indication that i we Hae aside the faust reltion, we have not taken any postive step forward. Indeed the problem has become moe acute ‘Onthe otherand there docs now seem tobe more rospet of geting beiad the rile of boredom if we examine the stat of becoming bored and being ‘bored. Bu we he Been warned. Not only that ino doing we arent to neglect what isboringand that which bore us ba hat this becoming bored and being ‘bores not some sate tht merely arses one tht we lay belo us fr iavest> -pton ike somelabortory preparation, Yethoweke ae weoproea!? West Ate al bring ouseies into some relainsdip o this stat if we wish o make ‘any ssertions abou it Which i the appropiate elatonship? Surely we ean ‘pad as valid the general raf placing an abject under the best condions of ‘observa. This rule valid inthe scenes Andthusinpilosophyto0 No isthe ober way around: It isnt because this ules vai inthe scenes that it ie valid for ws but is vali the scenes because tis ue grounded in a0 gnary, sential connection In accordance with th, the susantie coment sand Kind of being of bing peste the pore maiesmes rath) Belonging ‘0 it The various regions of beings ad the individual things there are, each cording to thr substantive content and Kn of bing. are dependent pon Trclar kind of tut, of unconcelmet. This openness which pertains ‘ery being in acordance wth it substantve content and in accordance Wits ay of beng cach ase prefigwesin tur the speci possble and propriate sof access the Bing hats tself toe rasp. Through the respective kindo ‘Fundamental Conospts of Metaphysics (135-36) of tat, which sed up wih being he way, the possi, andthe means of ‘ppropiting oF warding a eis, of posesng beings o losing thes, ae prefgured, This sno (os in any way that such aces one oF theoreti Interropaton and observation in the sntie sease—but only to sy Ua f ‘sient knowledge isto be pained then in accordance with tsatention and is, ossibiies it mast satisfy thatesentiaconnection between beingand uth Fr this reason expbitrules become nevesary fr the sciences The necessity of Iuning to proceed methodologically eof investigating being scoring oi ind, doesnot eit hecase science demands such a hing, but iscalled fr by iene onthe basis ofthe esentil elongingtoguier af being and truth, We, however, do not wish to observe boredom, Perhaps sich & thing altogether imposible Yet we do want to experience something about boredom, bout its esence, about the way i wich ts essence unfolds, Can we do this in any ther way than by transposing ourselves int an attunement of boredom dnd then observing it, or by imagining a certain boredom and then asking what elongs ti? For surly isthe ste whether we are investigating a ata cas of boredom or an imagined, i, merely pose case After a ot intrested inthis partir horedor that wee ight 0, but Boredom islf at such and what telongs to ie, 10 ever) posible case. Thus a8 ‘imagined case of boredom wll fal the sine Funton for us. So it seems inden, If we tanspose ourselves into boredom or imagine we tre doing so and then get to work on it and observe it we shall sais the fundamental rule of investigation. And yet, presse though this assignment of tasks may seen, itis ur task, It makes the ive expeieneofftnement into an objet summing the steam of consciousness which we as observers, fuze alter In this may we precy donot enter our ovginary relationship 1 boredom no its eationhip to ws When we make nto an abet this) ‘hen we refise i precisely the role it is supposed to have in Keping with th most proper intention of our questioning. We refuse it the possitiity of ‘folding ts essence assoc, a8 the Boredom in which we ae Bored 0 that, se may thereby experience its essence, whats boring and that which bores us ad together with this, boredom ‘tsa is something which s Uncomfortable Torus, something that we do not wv to Tet arise, something that we immeitly ty to drive aay when it iss if boredom is something that we are fundamentally opposed to fom the very bepaning the it wil originally manifest itself as that to which We are opposed wherever we are opposed tot, whereier we diet away whether ‘we do s0 consciously oF unconsciously. Ths occurs wherever we create & {version from boredom for ourselves, where we in ech ease pa th ne Such and sucha way and with this intent Precisely wherever we are opposed to ie Boredom self must want to asset ise, and wherever it presses to the ope in such a way it must pres de pon usin is esence. 2 ey = “Thusitis peeisely in ping the me that we Fs ein te comet oromtation fn which we can emcounrer boredom undiguised. Consequently we may NOt sake boredom into an objet of contemplation a some sae that aries on itso, but must consider tia the way that we move win le, inthe way that seek to dive tava However~it wil be objected boredom is now indeed ot Being iota as some ved experienc, fe floating, the naked objet of some observation, and we are indeed now keting it emerge; we fist havi precisely when we are volved in driving i away. Yet the sae of airs has sentially not altered How do things stand with our pain the time? Are we not naw making this nsead of boredom, into the object of some obxeration—only in sich away that boredom i a5 it were simultaneously hidden within ou pasting the me as that which we drive away? In that case we donot havea pute, oated action of boredom, but our seation aginst tthe reaction and that which treats agains, not one led experience, but two whic ae coupled together. It does need sce ike this and yet things are otherwise We have not merely pasha second lived experience in font of ii only forthe reason tat we do not ist neo to consect our passing the time a a parca ved experience, as it were, but constantly maintain oursees within, and indeed in such a may that ia so doing we know nothing, sretly speaking. of lived experince i te sul and suchlike. [Now we can Sef he Fist tine what i decive in ll our methodological Jeonsderations. Is nota mater of concocting a region of Ived experince, of working our way into a stratum of inteteltions of consciousness. We must reel) woid losing ourselves ia some particular sphere which bas been artificially prepared or forced upon ws by tational perspectives that have sified, instead of preserving and maintaining the immediacy of everyday Dascin, What sequired isnot the fort of working ourselves int a particlar ite, but the severe: what is foquired isthe reloaement (Gelassenht] of our fc, everday prspecive~fre from peycholopial and other theories of ‘consciousness ofthe seam of fio experience nd suchlike, Because, how fre, we are permeated by such theories olen understood in their most ‘bvious sense and in kaeping with an elucidation of the meaning of the words its inderd mach more dic to plant such reasement in oneselt than to ltr and memorize one or mor thsories It rom ths perspective that we must comprehend the apparent Lboriousness with which we ae at tempting to work our way toward sucha vial phenomenon as boredom, ‘Working our ay toward it inthis manner means diseling ll thos titudes that tend to impose themselves upon us Our task now i not the interpretation of what is boring as such, but, ‘becoming bored by such a hing, being Bored with... Here we must heed the fact that becoming bored by - and being bored with. do not simpy2 Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics [134-39 cide Tt indeed seme a though they are both ease by someting boring nd do nok for insane, represent two dere kinds of attunement, Bu one “nd the same om the one hand insofar a the attunement see fom the perspective of is aus, fom that which shaving a active eet, so that the $Nunemeat may thas be characterized passively a becoming bored: on the ‘her hand, however, the sme ltanement may becharateriaed as being bored insofar ab we have it within vy, ssofaasits something everyone finds within them. And yet ter distinction betwee the two which must be pointed ‘ut at this tae and which, in acordance with the very ature ofthis istine- ‘oni important forthe path our appraisal sto take Ti becoming bored by something we are precisly sil hd fast by tha which is boring, we do not yet let go, or we ae compelled by it, bound to it for ‘whatever reason, eventhough me have previous freely given ourselves over Toit In bing bored with. on the other hand, a certain detachment rom that which s boring has already occurte. That whichis boring i indcd at hand, yet we ae bored without that which is boring specifically or exlicy boring ux we are bored—aliost as though the boredom came fom and 2 though the boredom continu to propagate ise, without needing tobe “used by oF Bound to what i boring any more. In becoming bored by tis book, however, we aes concentrating om the thing at issu, indced precisely fon this In bring bored with. the boredom i no longer nailed fas 10 somthing. but is already beganing to diflse Boredom has then not arson from this particular boring thing, 8 the contrary it radiates out over other things. H, boredom itself now pves our Dasein a strange horizon ove and beyond the particular boing thing. I des not merely eat to the particular thing tht ip Boring us But setts over sever thingy, over other things exerting beomes boring ‘We cana even ask yet what this station in attunement propel is ad what underiesit t alone give an answer at his stag, since we have nt 3 Seriously clarified what kind of attunement in general lis i becoming bored snd in Bing bored or the purposs of showing this we shall chereforeintaly discard nce more the distinction we hase indicated, im onder to take up the question Concerning ita ltr stage ina more incse frm, What common to oth phenome is that we are bored by and with something speci, albeit in & tileent way $23, Becoming bored and posing he time ‘We shall not consider hecming Bore and being bored in themselves, but shall consider thi boredom as that which we drive aay rte). o sek to drive esyi-ny 3 aay. namely by passing these 2sitverei, This snot something that we ‘vor to of Our own accord, as it were, without any boredom having n, ‘but passing the time which lays elim upon us specially out of and in ‘preston to a parteaar boredom 4) Passing the time aa diving away of ted that drives ime on. We are siting, for example in the tasteless station of some lonely ior railway I sour ours unt the next tin arrives The dist is uninspting ‘We do havea book in our rucksack, though shall we read? No. Or think through a problem, some question? We are unable to, We ead the timetables for study the table giving the various distances fom thi sation to ther paces te are not otherwise acqusinted with a all, We look atthe clock—only & {guurter of an hour has gone by. Then we go out ont the lca oad. We walk tp and down, just to have something to de, But it sno se. Then we count the tree long the road, ook at ur watch again—exacy ve minutes since tr ast looked at Fed up with walking back and forth, we sit down ona ions raw ll Kinds of figure in the sand, and in so dong catch ourschies Tooking st our watch yet agaia—haf an hour~and soon "An everyday station with wll-kaown, banal, yet git spontaneos forms cof passing the ime, What are we realy passing here? This question isstangely ambivalent. As the phrase says, we pass the time Yet what Joes it mean here to pas the te? We cannot, after a, shake time off To pass here mens to ‘make it pos by to propel drive toms that it passes Our passing the ime, however is ia ise realy a passing of boredom, whete passing pow means: ing a shaking off Passing the time is @ driving away of boredom that ‘dives tine on! ‘What ate we tying to chase away herein wanting oll imei, what tine? In psig the time we do not chase ine aa. Not only because this is ‘imately alkogether imposible, but because the whole atitadeof passing the times we sil se later ally dicted toward time, eventhough in doing so we constantly look at the clock, What do we eally wantin constant Jooking ut the clock? We merely want o se time pased: What ime? The ime ‘nil the train arives We constantly lok atthe lock because Weare waiting for that point inte. We are fd up wating, we want to have done with this ‘witng We shake of boredom. Is the boredom that springs rom this ooking atthe clock some kind of wating, then? By 20 means. Being bored wih fomething, afterall snot awaiting for something. In our example the most, ‘zr taut Woy dr ange he oman or pnthe tine Zn ry meanings iePandata Concept of Metaphyses 3 lve can say is that i s wang tel ha s boring and that bores us, but boredom isnot tel waiting. Furthermore, not every waiting is neesaiy boring. On the contrary, waiting can be fl of suspense. In which ese thee is then no room for borodom at al, We thought we were already onthe tai ‘of boredom withthe phenomenon of passing the ime, et once agin i has disappeared "Ta what extent, however the malting in our example boring? What const tutes its boringnese? Perhaps it beause sa having to wai Le, bscause tre are foro, coerced into a particular situation. This is why we become Impatient Thus what relly oppreses us is mare his impatience. We want 0 ‘Scape fom our impatiene. Is Boredom then this imputince? Is boredom therefore not some wing, bu hs being nspatent, nt wanting or being able to walt and for thi reason being ilchumoured? Yet is Boredom really an ttnement of il humour or even an patience? Certainly impatience ean tse in connection with boredom. Nevertheless, iti neither identical with, boredom, nor even a propery oft. Thee neither a patient nor an impatient boredom. The impatience rater has odo with the manner and way in which sxe want to get boredom under contol and ae often unable to get it under Control Ou passing the ime has this peculiar character of «Murterng unease ‘hat brings this impatience with Foe what happens in becoming bored is ‘that our unease while having 1 wait does ot allow ust find anything that, ‘could grip us satus or tus be patient Being bored f neither wating nr a being impatient. This having to wait, and our impatience may be preset and surround boredom, but they never ‘onsiute boredom ise Before we contin with our interpretation of boredom, we shal real once more the tes we have taken hitherto, We carried ott provisional examina tion of boredom from various angles These considerations fu tose: [1 That an interpretation of boredom i evidently acesary: for boredom i indeed known to yet we donot relly know it ntimatly. Indeed, hen tok more closely we find the essence ofthis attunement quite ungraspable it isppears [2] We saw that when we attempe such an interpretation of bore ‘dom itis intially nota all clear where we shoud bein ia wha diection we ‘should inquire and guide the interpretation, of how we are to make this know phenomenon them. A general methodological maxim could indeed prove the guideline that all nsestigation must sce to it that each objet is Broueh under the best conditions of observabiy. We soon sa homers that th apparel quite universal and relevent maxim is something that scien merely applies something that gees Back toa fundamental relation between tring and trth. This univer directive therfore has nothing to tell ws 50 long a it remainsuncear in what way whatever we are investigating namely thisattunement is and what kindof truth Belongs tit whether this raton. s23 tay 9s nd the way in which the attunement i arin each ese such that they can be made the object of scenic observation. We ten alo saw that this maxim fot only tll us nothing, but fundamentally eas us sry hat whenever we folom i, it misleads us into binging sucha Ive experience called boredom, before uv an observable objet, with apparel eptinat, yet Tandamentally exaggerated and mistaken precision leis rather a matter of sseing boredom frit ore ux and of grasping i ast ocapies wx I alays shows sel in sch fay that we immediatly tur against it. Whenever we make boredom an bjt if we may sy Such a thingwe must fom the outset ltt emerge as someting that we (urn apunst, notin an arbitrary manner, But to putt ‘rudly-in thi peculiar reaction that i provoked of ls ova accord by the ‘emetgent boredom, and which we call pasing she time We must approach tis prculiae wut ofa Boredom and a pusing He tine in which a confrontation tit boredom somehow occurs Final, we saw that We have thereby extended bur fed of appraisal Beyond an isolated lived experience (0 its unity with psig the time. We sm however—this will emerge more ceuly at later ftage-tha although we are also making preset to oursles an example of passing the ime, itis immediatly closer tous than this and that we constant fesde within it, Wht iat su, then, precisely transposing ourselves back nto this immediacy of everyday comportment, away fom al the theories and methodological efforts that seem necessary. Our investigation must nonethe- es show that this doesnot mean we ean proood in an arbisary manner. fn passing the tme we rescue ouetves fom boredom, To show this we provided simple depiction of one particule boring situation, We ae beginning with the phenomenon of passing the time and asking initially what i realy being assed ere eis not time that x being passed, although na way it dos make Sense 10 say 50, as we shal ee. Boredom is pused off or driven off by our ving time on in acerain sense Whe wesay that psig the time isa driving ry of Boredom tht drives time on, this Som tobe avery pees definition of passing the time. Ye upon closer investigation we se tha this definition s incorrect. For inthis driving time on and driving boredom aay somethin has already been sid about boredom, namely this moment of diving ie on, diving by. Wecan then n longer that in doingso we are diving boredom vay In other words, when we take the definition this formal way, We may ‘no longer peak of Boredom self. This is mentioned only as an aside, 0 that you do not become see ow tht definition. More important ie the concrete uestion: What does al this mean? Toward the end I pointed to what opresiet ts ans bdrng] inthis boring station Is the peculiar wating that We Want tae done wth, 20 that the sugeestion is that perhaps boredom is this iting Fina we saw that waiting and boredom sre not ideal. Rather iting lf ca hae the character of horingness. yet need not do 0.96 Fundamental Concepts of Metaptyscs (144-46) Pasig the time and looking at our watch. Becoming bred ing aected ina paralysing way by time a das ‘Strange: in this way we experience many kinds of things, yet itis pesibely horedor self that we cannot manage fo grasp—almost as though We Were Tooking for something tht doesnot exst a al. 1 mall he things we thought twas It vanities and ters away from ws. And y—this impatient ‘ein. de walking up and dor, counting ees, and al tbe other bandoned Sete atest presely tothe fat that the boredom i thee. We confirm and Fenforee this evidence when we sa) that we are almost ding of boredom, Peshaps against ou intentions and against our wll we are betraying something Imgsteios in saying this ely that Boredom uliately grep a the roots OF Daten ie. prewils inthe owamost ground of Dasein. Or ist instead merely an exaggerated and exaggerating way of patting things when we tak fof consuming. deadly boredom We shall ewe open how much it may be jst che and habit o sty such things on particular ocasons In any case these expressions are not acidentl. Boredom is theres something pei land yet i nevertsles alvays surrounded by these extraneous circumstances in which we beome sietacked ie and again in our ongoing vestigations ‘Thus it wil ultimately not be of any help to us ether if we approach sored fom the perspective of passing the ine, inorder tose what we are ‘tring against im pssng the tne. Or perhaps we have no et uf IMansposed oursehes into sich passing the time and repeatedly let ourselves he istracted to relly by things that boredom cou ultimately be—impt nce, Waiting, thing that persuade ur that they might Be what we ae looking for Why so? The phenomenon has many aspects: What do we nee? We need ‘secure guideline & relabe meas IF We Start from our general characte jaaion once more then borsdom and our passing the time which is opposed tort now become carer tous: What eat se in boredom [Lange is 8 il (ie arying whl (Verweden) »peculia emsning, enduring, ANS thus time afterall And a opposed 1 that, passing the cme. In such passing thetime we ses the peculiar comportment of coniaually pulling ou our watch, the wath by which we measur time Thos what dis in passing the ing tnd indeed i har shakes of, namely boredom, afterall rime, Pesing the ime s therefore a shortening of ine that dives ime on namely the Se that seeks fo Become long (ag) It thus aa intervention into ime a8 Canfonaton with vine, We tus thertore Begin here and ask wha shapes ing to time in thi context, ow we tlt co time, and 80 on, Ii by way of the phenomenon of passing the time we indeed wish to catch sight of hat shaken off it, namely Boredom, it will be a good ies 0 faus on that occurrence within our passing the time which we have already ‘mentioned on several ostsions this continual ooking a our watch p23 eo ” ns doing so, however, we must take creful note ofthe Fact tha his ooking tour watch is aot isl» passing the ime. It doesnot belong on the same evel as counting tees or walking buck and forth. tis nota way of means of ‘passng the ime but only sign that we want to paste time, or more pcsly tha our passing the tine isnot rally succeding. that the boredom sll tormenting us and is doing s ineresingl. Looking at ur watch already indiestes by isheples ert, or fire tops the time, an ths indices that we re Becaming resin Bored. This is why We look repeatedly a our swatch yet this not some purely mechanical action. What do we Wish 10 ascertain? Just what time ts m general? No, ntl thi doesnot intrest us tall Rither we wis toascerain how mash ime islet unl the rain departs ‘or whether the time until the tain arives will on have clapsd whether ‘we must continue fo strugal against the emergent boredom by this unsveces= fal Kling of time, strangely lacking in ny gol. Its not a mater of snp spending ime. batof king i. of making pass more quick This means {hat tis going sl Does being bored then mean grasping the fat that time is ping slowly? Yin boredom we do notascerain anything, or do we grasp fnything, nor do we make time the objet af iventipation. On the contrary, im boredom were hound prcitely by nothing Not even by time, the slowness fof time And where does this slowness stm rom? In what does this shwness ons? sit because time to lang? Does his long while of boredom arse because we hive four hours to wait? Can we not abo be bored with something that perhaps only last quarter of an hou? Perhaps we ae not bored at all with apart that continues an entire night. Thus the Int of time pliys 10 role, not because imei (00 long ie, not because the measurable seth of time which we objectively plot on ou watch i (00 preat--aot because the progres of time isso, bt becate ts to slow Weight against the progress of time which is slowing down and io slow for ws, and which in boredom hold nF. We Fgh against this peculiar vacating and dragging of time. This vacating and dragging of tine contains whatever ii thats ‘burdensome and paralysing. ‘Yet ought time to pass more quickly the? And i so, how quickly? What speed i time supposed to have? Does it havea speed at al? Tame evidently ‘kes ts epular course, unfrls almost like the repulr ple of some unas- salable monster: sity seconds in every minute, and sixty minutes in every our, Yet docs tne consist of hours, minutes and seconds? Or ae these not merely measuresin which we eat, somthing we do because, inhabitants ofthe earth, we move upon thi planet ina partial telation othe sux? Do tensed thee measures nd a commensurate repulaityoaly fo the purpose ‘of measuring time? Can we say how quickly or slowly time sel? passes whether thas spec at al nd whether i llowe hi sped to cage? Des ‘ime really take an unwavering regular course? Orit mot ater of a highlyo Fda Conc of Metaphysics temperamental esence? Ar thee not hours that are ke a moment? Are there ‘nominates thet ae like an eeaity? Does t merely sem ike this ou os time really somtimes shot, somtimes long. sometimes Mletng, sometimes rvlng ad never regula? Tt really Like hs? Ori time real as shown by fur watches sit prses ypon vs dally and hourly? Or are we Bere merely teceived, persuaded of something by a measuring instrument thats peta indispensable? Are we merely persuaded ofthis caleulable imei the face of Stich that time which cannot be calulated sinks 10 the level of an illusion {nd is merely subjective. as our banal eleverness able to tellus? Pecsly that time which, in our supreme bls, is a6 etng a the glance of some profound cj, et in our deepest ned is butdening and net asa slow-mo ing, almost stagnant river this er ne merely subjestive and not propery ‘ea Wht is ety hore, and where does illusion begin? Or may we not ask in this way a all! With the apparent val cbservation that in boredom, time pases too slowly, we ae that we ave already entered the gests obseu- sity and dict weer thing may stand in his respect rom the perspective of passing the time and according tits owas ntention we can say that what sa stein sing the time wanting 0 overcome the salon af tine. Tobe slow and to rag are not the same thing. that which drags i indoed necessary show in erin sense-butnot everthing that is slow neesiy drags The ime hat frags must be coerced into passing mor quik. sothatisbingpaased does fot paralyse ws 90 tat the boredom disppeat. The result for our guiding problem of what becoming bored propery i then reads: Becoming bored i 2 Pula eg afte in praying way by time ast drags andy tien genera { eingulleced which oppeses usin ts ova way Thus we mast urbe ing {sto fo time oppress ts herein Bvominghoted. Tie yet wes pecs jn ouattempt to rasp the slowness the dragging of time tht me has beome together enigate for us Not onl is or reltionhi 10 imei our Becoming bared now obscure, but tne el obscure. What can this mesn: becoming boved isa being acted by img, by Gime ast rags and ina paralysing way? I itonly in boredom tat we areata byte? Are we not constantly bound time, pres and oppresed by ime even when we believe ands that our ime isentirely at ou on disposal?” “This being affected by time in boredom, however, evidently peclor Jnpressng [Avaingen ofthe power of tht Ye to which we are bound. This nis that time can oppress to ene wm peace, sometimes inthis wa. Sometimes in that. This ultimately bound up with its on cacy for rans formation, Becoming bond and boredom in general are hen evidently ete rooted in this nigmatc even of tine What is more if boredom san ate tent then time andthe way inch 8 a8 tine, the way in which it Temporalzs isl psy psi part in Dasa Being attuned in peer £23 (198-30) » We ar increasingly tempted to pose the whol problem of boredom simply in tems of the problem of time. And yet we ought not to give into this temptation, eve it were to simplify ou vestigation ta certain extent. We ‘must tick with boredom, so that precise) doughs essence we may take @ Took nt the concealed essence of ome and thereby into the connection between the 140 Being bel inno by ime ast drags. Accordingly, we shall consider anew the way the question is posed and our ‘nentationin questioning. We shall amp er Becoming ored Be sen from the perspective of passing the time as thao hch he later is opposed Passing the time isa way of taking action against the dragging of time that oppress tx Yetit equally clear tha ia diving tine on so that it passes by. we ae not drcted toward time In passing the time we ae nt speifilly occupied Wi time Nor do we se hw sucha thing could be posible at all We donot, afterall stare at the seconds flowing by, inorder to drive them on. On the ‘ontrar, even though we often ook atthe clack, we lok away agin just as ‘wckly Toward what? Toward nothing in puricula. Yer how so? We do not Took at anything in particular because nothing n particular oles tall tous Indeed he nkerentprodicament of becoming bores precisely that we cn find anything in particular. We indeed look fr someting Yt we ae foking for something tht wil divert our attention. Divert it from what From being oppresed by time ast drags We are scking 1 ps themes, precy snot tobe occupied with time, not to del upon ime orto ponder it. Passing the time: srangsy, this means an ocepaton tat diverts our attention away from time as it drags and fom its oppresing ws ‘What is this oppression? Ie snot time assiing ws, not some sudden on slaught of time, but a speci kindof opprssing the dragging of ime. Yet ‘uel something that drags preiely hols back eps isl distant, and does ‘ot oppress. How can it oppress? Thi is why we ypeak of specifi kind of ‘oppresing. We abo came dros it on our first approach, We already know ths oppresion. We found it ia that very ting which is boring that which bores us that whic olds sin nba, Yet how i holding in imo supposed to be oppesive? When we are hed in lmbo we fave alle al, some leeway to move something opens before us; theres nothing there a al that could ‘oppres us Yet this is precisely what sat sue: in becoming Bored we are held {nim and indeed by time ait drags To where ae we held then? To where docs tie hoW! ws and what i i that we dwell upon? We find the answer to this question if we pay atention to whore we wish to arive though passing the time For passing the time betrays tous where we want o et ava rom ‘nd thsi precisely that place to which ime n tsslownes holds us In passing10 Fedamental Concepts of Metts [50-50] the time we sek somthing to oscupy ws, something We can dell upon. What happens when we dos? Does time pas more quickly whenever we hae found suc thing? To what extent docs then pass more quickly? Do we observe the coure of time inthe occupution tat we have fund in onder o pass the time? Do we ascertain that pasing more quickly! No. What i character: Ini is that we do not py atetion to time at all Time goes more quickly because its dragging eno longer thee Its dragging has disappeared, because in certain way we fogs time altogether. Its now imposible for time to tary [verve] for too Tong, because it cannot tarry at all. Where have we used time aay fo when we have forgotten i? We donot a yet hive an lanser to tit Way cam we not ind an anser to this question? We have not ‘Sid htm we are psig er, Weare not simply passing tine in gene ‘We sw, urtermor, that within certain Kis tres ireevant how great, thestretchof time Yeti safer ala parular time which ats, rae ‘his interval of time uti the rain departs Bein el i ino doesnot happen ‘over any course of time whatsoever ut oer this particular interval of time that drags between our aval and he departure of the tai It hols wand {in doing so olds us up. Buta where docs it hl us, and alongside whar does ‘hold ts up? Mer ali doesnot bind us isle Weare held by acta tine and yet do not pay attention toi, Cold we not be happy tha it holds us up" Afterall what we are loking fri prvisely something wih which 0 ‘oxcupy oureies atic we arrived at the insight that both Boredom ing [Wee bring, drageing—as well 8 our asscited passing the ine, have todo with time. Accondingly we have now intentionally pursued the phenomenon of passing the tine in that distin which ets us see how we thereby attemps to suber time i, to eiminate ime ait drags over an interval of ime that, ‘oppress us. The dragging of time proved to be that which holds usin ibe. ‘Accordingly, becoming bord is «Being held in fho iy time ait drags over ‘an interval of tne We do aot yet in any way sce through what i relly happening here however, how time in genora relates to us such that a raping, can hold vs in imbo in sich a way noe how time in general Sands four command, such that we can try to speed por eliminate its Arapring. For what i ar asue is evidelly not our mere assessment of time which would be purely subjective “The question ow ie whether, via an increasingly penetrating atrpetation ‘of bing held in Limbo by time as it drugs, we can catch sight of the full ‘sential import ofthis particular form of boredom. In s0 dong, and with regard to what we hie sid in general about time, we shall lease entire ‘open the exent 9 which we suceed in solving this el and strange enigma ‘concerning tim, its speed, and sacle, and shall remain fr now within {his particular form of Boredom becoming bored by. We shall ty (0 319.9) 1 clarify how this dragging of time holds un mbo, and how this besoming bored is thereby made possible 4) Being lt empty by the esl of things, and an insight into ts ‘posible conection wth Being held in nb by time a i dag. Jas 2s we will arly dispute altogetier that this being held in ino belongs to becoming bored, we wl etn insist that being eld in imbo does not Alone constitute boredom. For in passing te time we simultaneously sek to ‘occupy oursles with something. Yet how’ do we go about ti? sit by forcing ‘urate to go to work despite there Being peasant snowfall on the il? [Novia passing the time we sok for something to acupy a; though cetinly not as though we were busy a cotage where someone ischopping Wood and anothers fetching the milk, and we, in order to help out, den go and dre some water. In the activity we have soupht in pasing the time we ae not interested in what occupies us nor even whether anything comes of and we thereby help others We are interestd nie in the objet nor in he result of the activity, but in ei occupied as tuck and in this alone. Wea seeking to be occupied in any way Why’? Merely 0 sn ofl into this ing lef empty that i emerging in Horedom. Is it therefore heme left empty tate Wish ‘scape from, rather than Being held in Limbo? Is emg lft empty then What is ‘eset in borsdom? It is something oter tha beng held a limbo, and yet lke the later belongs to becoming bored, ‘Yet what is this being lett empty? Whar is et empty here? And in what, sense? Wescek to cliinat big lft empty by Being occupied with something Such being occupied with something is a specific manner and way in which, for example, we dea! with things Thee are various possiblities here: We ean let things sit there a they are or work on them, we can set them out ready ot write with them, Being occupied gives our dealings with tings a exain maniolines, reton, fullnes But not only that) we are also kor Uhingenommes) by things. if not altogether lost in them, and often even cup- ‘ated [benommen by them. Our ates and expleits become inmered [aufgehen] i someing When we at hol of something that eccupos ws, we searety hive ime for anything ee, We ae ential up witht, and in such away that even the very time tht we use frit and waste oni sno Tonget ‘here atl and al that at hand is whatever satis ws: Beng ft emp and being sufed ae associated with ou dealings with things. Being It empy is eliminated when things are at had, tour disposal Yet ets recall the boring situation which we depicted as an example. Are ‘here not thing at hind her, for instance the station, the timetable, he ral strc, the ees and indzed the whole area, which we know very itl about and where we can ascertain things Fr days on end? Al the sare we are bore