Might boredom and excitement be two sides of the same coin? Self-centered pursuits can feel exciting and satisfying. But they can lead to time-consuming bingeing or even send us on an endless quest for ever more extreme expressions of whatever we feel is stimulating. And if those pursuits are what excite us, without them, we can find ourselves bored.
Having “been there and done that” in both those ways, I found a way out that isn’t a bland neutrality but a whole new way of living a fulfilling life. Looking up and out from a world of material highs and lows through the study and practice of Christian Science, I found a steadier joy that we can each awaken to – a calm, satisfied, true sense of God and what God means to us.
A thought picture painted in the Bible’s book of Isaiah contradicts the perception of life as a patchwork of material highs and lows. Prophesying the coming of Jesus, it says, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain” (40:4). To Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, those words refer to flattening the mountains of selfishness and uplifting the valleys of sin to prepare the highway of God (see “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 61).
Highs and lows based on material belief, the limited thinking of the human mind, slow our path to the bliss of knowing God and His creation, where all real satisfaction is found. His creation couldn’t possibly be flat or boring – it contains all genuine good. As we gain a higher understanding of this, we feel on fire with the true joy and purpose God has given each of us. This spiritual state of consciousness is revealed to us by Christ, the true idea of God, which Jesus demonstrated in such an astounding way as to make it absurd to think it could ever be boring!
This more Christly consciousness doesn’t exclude measured engagement with things we enjoy, such as sports, cultural activities, friendships, etc. But it does increasingly lift us to behold our true, spiritual identity, in which neither over-stimulation nor boredom exists to stop us from actively and gladly reflecting Love, God. This truth of what we are as God’s reflection is the model for how to live our lives from day to day, which is living “Love’s divine adventure to be All-in-all,” as Mrs. Eddy puts it (“The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” p. 158).
In valuing and nurturing a sense of life as the adventure of understanding and demonstrating Love’s allness, what might have previously seemed to be a boring gap in activity becomes a spiritually refreshing pause. What might have seemed dull to a thought stimulated by the senses or by intellectual pursuits becomes an opportunity to listen for what Christ is imparting to us – nurturing our progress in understanding the things of Spirit, God.
One vital part of opening our heart to such insights into God’s nature and our wholly spiritual expression of Him is engaging with the Bible and the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health. This is pivotal to experiencing thought-shifts Spiritward that result in practical change for the better in every aspect of our experience.
The Scriptures and textbook are infinitely fresh guidebooks to our unique place in Love’s ever-satisfying divine adventure. Opening their pages and pondering and grasping the meaning of the words they contain, many have felt the healing Christ exalting valleys of sorrow, suffering, and sin and leveling mountains of materialism and selfishness.
Let’s let Christ uplift us to the spiritual heights from which we see what’s true of us – our infinite abilities and purpose. Let’s let go of the self-identification with boredom or over-stimulation claiming to overshadow our path to progress. They are no part of our true, and truly satisfied, identity.
A life that consistently looks to Spirit for guidance and acts on the thoughts it imparts is the most deeply engaging life, bringing a joyous, purposeful unfoldment of good to our days. So whether we currently feel disengaged by what’s going on or are distracted by ephemeral pleasures, our solution is the same. We can turn from what the corporeal senses say is life to what Christian Science reveals as the true life of each of us. When we are consciously reflecting divine Life, God, our thought is open to the spiritual inspiration and insights that lead to priceless ways to experience and express God.
Adapted from an editorial published in the Aug 3, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
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