Saturated
Heavy drops, carrying more
than they can bear, fall from no-
where, bending leaves already
sagging, and one by one,
the leaves let go.
They drift to the earth,
each quiet as a master
juggler missing everything so
completely that he realizes
he is being juggled.
Surrender is like this.
Not giving up, but
missing and letting go.
~ by
Mark Nepo
In Praise of Idleness
In Praise of Idleness
By Bertrand Russell
[1932]
Like most of my generation, I
was brought up on the saying: 'Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do.'
Being a highly virtuous child, I believed all that I was told, and acquired a
conscience which has kept me working hard down to the present moment. But
although my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a
revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that
immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs
to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what
always has been preached. Everyone knows the story of the traveler in Naples
who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini),
and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim
it, so he gave it to the twelfth. this traveler was on the right lines. But in
countries which do not enjoy Mediterranean sunshine idleness is more difficult,
and a great public propaganda will be required to inaugurate it. I hope that,
after reading the following pages, the leaders of the YMCA will start a
campaign to induce good young men to do nothing. If so, I shall not have lived
in vain.
Before advancing my own
arguments for laziness, I must dispose of one which I cannot accept. Whenever a
person who already has enough to live on proposes to engage in some everyday
kind of job, such as school-teaching or typing, he or she is told that such
conduct takes the bread out of other people's mouths, and is therefore wicked.
If this argument were valid, it would only be necessary for us all to be idle
in order that we should all have our mouths full of bread. What people who say
such things forget is that what a man earns he usually spends, and in spending
he gives employment. As long as a man spends his income, he puts just as much
bread into people's mouths in spending as he takes out of other people's mouths
in earning. The real villain, from this point of view, is the man who saves. If
he merely puts his savings in a stocking, like the proverbial French peasant,
it is obvious that they do not give employment. If he invests his savings, the
matter is less obvious, and different cases arise.
One of the commonest things to
do with savings is to lend them to some Government. In view of the fact that
the bulk of the public expenditure of most civilized Governments consists in
payment for past wars or preparation for future wars, the man who lends his
money to a Government is in the same position as the bad men in Shakespeare who
hire murderers. The net result of the man's economical habits is to increase
the armed forces of the State to which he lends his savings. Obviously it would
be better if he spent the money, even if he spent it in drink or gambling.
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