Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.
-- Soren Kierkegaard

#Wisdom #Quotes #SorenKierkegaard #Idleness

#Photography #Panorama #LakePowell #SlickRock #Canyon #Utah

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld, Francois:

«
We deceive ourselves thinking that only violent passions, like ambition and love, can overpower our other instincts. Indolence, thoroughly languid though it be, very seldom fails to be master; it interferes with all our plans and actions, and gradually wears down and destroys our passions and our virtues.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-francois/72895/

https://womanmagazine.co.nz/the-art-of-idleness-the-surprising-benefits-of-doing-nothing/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CTaking%20time%20out%20for%20nothingness,make%20our%20lives%20more%20meaningful.

"Taking time out for nothingness can restore energy and give us a greater appreciation of how to make our lives more meaningful."

Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.
-- Soren Kierkegaard

#Wisdom #Quotes #SorenKierkegaard #Idleness

#Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Flowers #Junkyard #Minnesota

A quotation from Joubert, Joseph:

«
Idleness is a necessity for the mind, as much as work. Talent is ruined by writing too much, and rusted by not writing at all.
 
[L’oisiveté est nécessaire aux esprits, aussi bien que le travail. On se ruine l’esprit à trop écrire; on se rouille à n’écrire pas.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/71113/

Doing Nothing Has Never Been More Important.

How the under-appreciated art of idleness can transform the world.

Exhortations toward work as the path to truth, meaning, virtue, and salvation suggest the contemporary valuation of work is—although not universal—more than the legacy of a single cultural tradition

https://thewalrus.ca/doing-nothing-has-never-been-more-important/ #nothing #rest #idleness

The writer Mark Slouka counsels against filling our time with work:
#idleness is not only a psychological necessity, requisite for the construction of a complete human being;
#Idleness constitutes a kind of political space, a space as necessary for the workings of an actual democracy as, say, a free press.
Slouka expands on this claim in a provocative essay, calling idleness “unconstrained” and “anarchic.”
He suggests that idle time provides people with the chance to reflect on their values, beliefs, commitments to justice, and strategies for enacting change.
Far from an embrace of sin or a dodge of responsibility, idleness is recast as a political project
—and an unsettling one for those in power.
“All manner of things can grow out of that fallow soil,” Slouka writes,
"At rest yet restless, unoccupied yet invigorated."
Citizenship, for Slouka, especially democratic citizenship , requires time and unclaimed intellectual space in which each person can consider what they see as necessary for a flourishing society.
https://thewalrus.ca/doing-nothing-has-never-been-more-important/

For your weekend: A short vignette by the Northern Song poet, statesman, essayist, and general omnigenius Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037-1101), from another Friday night a thousand years ago.

https://www.burninghou.se/p/su-shi-chengtian-temple

#BertrandRussell's essay "In #Praise of #Idleness challenges the notion that #work is inherently #virtuous and argues for a r#eduction in #working hours to four hours a day. #Russell criticizes the belief that work is inherently good and highlights the harm caused by overworking. He suggests that if everyone worked fewer hours, there would be enough for everybody without unemployment.

(1/3)

I want a bright spring/summer day where I can lounge on my back by the side of a stream, my feet in the water, a book of poetry by my side, and having a good-natured debate over, I don't know, Voltaire or quantum physics with some friends nearby who are similarly situated.

I want to be idle, and to have time to THINK.

A quotation from Jerome, Jerome K.:

«
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/jerome-jermome-k/7889/

Note to self: read Bertrand Russell's essay, "In praise of idleness."

https://files.libcom.org/files/Bertrand%20Russell%20-%20In%20Praise%20of%20Idleness.pdf

We live in a society that values productivity above all else. We are expected to work hard, achieve more, and never waste time. But this is not healthy or sustainable. We need to embrace the benefits of #idleness, of doing nothing, of resting and recharging. Idleness is not a sin, it is a necessity. It allows us to be creative, to reflect, to connect with ourselves and others. #idlemode

https://youtu.be/jySfU10IQu4?si=sQXu6Mlu8XUuC-m8

Y'know, sometimes I really struggle not to work, just to idle with books and media and house/kitchen stuff.

Right now, though, this holiday? People, I am killin' it.