“Who does nothing, makes no mistakes; and
who makes no mistakes, never makes any progress.”
Paul Winkler
In the
second century BCE, the Chinese philosopher Han Fei, wrote that those who talk
about agriculture are many, but those who hold the plough are few. In a letter to
his son, Lord Chesterfield (British statesman) said that idleness is only the
refuge of weak minds. If idleness predominates your life, then surely it cannot
be healthy, but we should never overlook the fact that idleness may play a contributing
role sometimes. Virginia Woolf said that submerged truths sometimes comes to
the top in moments of idleness, and even though Lord Chesterfield warned us
against letting the golden hours slip by, we should keep in mind that some of
them are golden only because we let them slip.
Why
then is does idleness tend to have a bad reputation? What does the term
‘idle’ even mean? If I am idle, I am considered lazy. If I am being idle, it
usually means I am doing nothing, or I am bored. If something is idle, it is
not significant nor worth of any importance. Even if we are being ‘idle’,
our brain is still stimulated; it switches to some kind of resting
state, and it is usually in this state that it is at its most
creative. Enjoy this precious time of being idle because there will be
many times when you cannot be idle. Let us, therefore, labour with zeal but also
heed the words of W. H. Davies: “What is
this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?”
The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty,
for want of fighting was grown rusty,
and eat into itself, for lack
of somebody to hew and hack.
for want of fighting was grown rusty,
and eat into itself, for lack
of somebody to hew and hack.
Samuel Butler
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