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In Praise of Idleness: Rediscovering the Power of Doing Nothing
Introduction:
In our relentlessly productive society, the very idea of idleness feels almost subversive. We're bombarded with messages urging us to hustle harder, achieve more, and squeeze every last drop out of each day. But what if I told you that embracing idleness, far from being unproductive, is actually a crucial ingredient for creativity, well-being, and even success? This post explores the often-overlooked benefits of doing nothing, challenging the pervasive culture of constant activity and offering a powerful argument for the restorative power of leisure. We'll delve into the surprising ways idleness fuels innovation, improves mental health, and ultimately, enhances our lives.
The Myth of Constant Productivity
The Pressure to Achieve
Our modern world glorifies constant activity. We’re told that busy equals important, and that downtime is a sign of weakness. This pressure to perpetually achieve is fueled by social media, demanding work environments, and a pervasive sense of competition. But this relentless pursuit of productivity often comes at a cost. Burnout, anxiety, and a diminished sense of fulfillment are just some of the consequences.
The Illusion of Efficiency
The irony is that striving for constant productivity often leads to inefficiency. When we're perpetually busy, we lack the mental space for critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and strategic planning. We become reactive rather than proactive, rushing from one task to the next without pausing to consider the bigger picture.
The Unexpected Benefits of Idleness
Boosting Creativity and Innovation
Idleness provides fertile ground for creativity. When we allow our minds to wander, unburdened by the demands of immediate tasks, we unlock a flow of ideas and insights that would otherwise remain untapped. Think of your best ideas – weren't many of them conceived during moments of relaxation, daydreaming, or even seemingly unproductive activities like showering or walking?
Improving Mental and Physical Well-being
Regular periods of idleness are essential for mental and physical health. Downtime allows our brains to rest and repair, reducing stress and improving cognitive function. It allows us to recharge our energy levels, preventing burnout and boosting overall well-being. Studies have even linked idleness to improved cardiovascular health and reduced risk of chronic diseases.
Enhancing Focus and Concentration
Paradoxically, embracing periods of idleness can actually improve your focus and concentration. When we constantly bombard our brains with stimulation, we diminish our ability to concentrate deeply on any one task. Planned idleness allows us to return to our work with renewed clarity and energy, resulting in increased efficiency and improved performance.
Strengthening Relationships and Social Connections
Idleness isn't just about solitude. It allows us to engage in meaningful interactions with others without the pressure of constant activity. Spending quality time with loved ones, engaging in leisurely conversations, and simply being present are crucial for building strong and fulfilling relationships.
Cultivating a Culture of Idleness
Strategies for Incorporating More Downtime
Integrating idleness into our lives requires conscious effort. Start by scheduling dedicated downtime each day, even if it's just 15-30 minutes. Engage in activities you find relaxing and enjoyable, such as reading, meditating, spending time in nature, or pursuing hobbies.
Redefining Success Beyond Productivity
We need to redefine success beyond the metrics of productivity. True success encompasses well-being, fulfillment, and meaningful relationships. Embracing idleness is not a sign of laziness; it's a conscious choice to prioritize our mental and physical health, creativity, and overall well-being.
Embracing the Art of Doing Nothing
Ultimately, the art of idleness lies in embracing the power of doing nothing. It's about creating space for reflection, allowing our minds to wander, and appreciating the simple pleasures of life. It’s about recognizing that sometimes, the most productive thing we can do is nothing at all.
Conclusion:
In a world obsessed with productivity, embracing idleness might feel counterintuitive. But the benefits are undeniable. By consciously incorporating downtime into our lives, we unlock creativity, improve our well-being, and ultimately live more fulfilling lives. It’s time to challenge the myth of constant productivity and rediscover the restorative power of doing nothing.
FAQs:
1. Isn't idleness just laziness? No, idleness is a conscious choice to rest and recharge, allowing for greater productivity and creativity in the long run. Laziness, on the other hand, is a lack of motivation or effort.
2. How much idleness is ideal? The amount of idleness needed varies from person to person. Start with small increments of downtime and gradually increase it based on your needs and energy levels.
3. How can I incorporate idleness into a busy schedule? Prioritize tasks, delegate when possible, and schedule dedicated downtime just as you would any other important appointment.
4. What if I feel guilty about being idle? Challenge those feelings. Remind yourself that rest and relaxation are essential for your well-being and overall productivity.
5. Can idleness help with overcoming burnout? Yes, idleness is a crucial component of burnout recovery. It allows your body and mind to rest and repair, reducing stress and restoring your energy levels.
| in praise of idleness: In praise of idleness Bertrand Russell, 1972 Verzamelde opstellen van de Engelse wijsgeer (1872-1970) |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays Bertrand Russell, 2004 In this collection of essays, Russell surveys the social and political consequences of his beliefs with characteristic clarity and humour. In Praise of Idleness is a tour de force that only Bertrand Russell could perform. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Idleness Bertrand Russell, 2018-05-28 New York Times bestselling author Bradley Trevor Greive breathes new life into Bertrand Russell’s classic work, In Praise of Idleness, with a magical package that includes BTG’s new introduction, biographical afterword, historical notes, additional quotations and comic illustrations. This is the perfect gift for the fearless literary connoisseur who values creativity, big ideas and revolutionary spirit. Considered “the Voltaire of his time”, Bertrand Russell was a fearless iconoclast who stood unbowed before political and religious leaders; his disdain for conventional thinking and accepted beliefs set him apart from his academic peers and at odds with the authorities throughout his long and storied life. Russell’s penetrating insights and exquisite turns of phrase feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were first written. Arguing that we can achieve far more by doing far less, and that traditional wealth accumulation is a form of cultural and moral poverty, Russell demands greater depth from our age of abundant creativity and heralds the next wave of enlightened entrepreneurs. Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a Welsh philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic and political activist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. New York Times bestselling author Bradley Trevor Greive (BTG) became a household name after writing The Blue Day Book. He has since gone on to become one of the world’s most successful humour authors, and his books have sold more than 25 million copies in 29 languages and 115 countries. Born in Tasmania, BTG spent most of his childhood living in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore before returning to Australia. After graduating from The Royal Military College, BTG served as a Paratrooper Platoon Commander in the Australian Army before starting his publishing career as a cartoonist with the Sydney Morning Herald. An internationally respected wildlife expert and accident-prone adventure sportsman, BTG was awarded the Order of Australia in 2014 for his services to literature and wildlife conservation. BTG is married and currently divides his time between Australia and the USA in order to placate his American in-laws. |
| in praise of idleness: Idleness Brian O'Connor, 2020-04-07 For millennia, idleness and laziness have been regarded as vices. We're all expected to work to survive and get ahead, and devoting energy to anything but labor and self-improvement can seem like a luxury or a moral failure. Far from questioning this conventional wisdom, modern philosophers have worked hard to develop new reasons to denigrate idleness. In Idleness, the first book to challenge modern philosophy's portrayal of inactivity, Brian O'Connor argues that the case against an indifference to work and effort is flawed--and that idle aimlessness may instead allow for the highest form of freedom. Idleness explores how some of the most influential modern philosophers drew a direct connection between making the most of our humanity and avoiding laziness. Idleness was dismissed as contrary to the need people have to become autonomous and make whole, integrated beings of themselves (Kant); to be useful (Kant and Hegel); to accept communal norms (Hegel); to contribute to the social good by working (Marx); and to avoid boredom (Schopenhauer and de Beauvoir). O'Connor throws doubt on all these arguments, presenting a sympathetic vision of the inactive and unserious that draws on more productive ideas about idleness, from ancient Greece through Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Schiller and Marcuse's thoughts about the importance of play, and recent critiques of the cult of work. A thought-provoking reconsideration of productivity for the twenty-first century, Idleness shows that, from now on, no theory of what it means to have a free mind can exclude idleness from the conversation.--Provided by publisher |
| in praise of idleness: How to be Idle Tom Hodgkinson, 2007-06-07 How to be Idle is Tom Hodgkinson's entertaining guide to reclaiming your right to be idle. As Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. The Protestant work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them. But here, at last, is a book that can help. From Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the Idler, comes How to be Idle, an antidote to the work-obsessed culture which puts so many obstacles between ourselves and our dreams. Hodgkinson presents us with a laid-back argument for a new contract between routine and chaos, an argument for experiencing life to the full and living in the moment. Ranging across a host of issues that may affect the modern idler - sleep, the world of work, pleasure and hedonism, relationships, bohemian living, revolution - he draws on the writings of such well-known apologists for idleness as Dr Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and Nietzsche. His message is clear: take control of your life and reclaim your right to be idle. 'Well written, funny and with a scholarly knowledge of the literature of laziness, it is both a book to be enjoyed at leisure and to change lives' Sunday Times 'In his life and in this book the author is 100 per cent on the side of the angels' Literary Review 'The book is so stuffed with wisdom and so stuffed with good jokes that I raced through it like a speed freak' Independent on Sunday Tom Hodgkinson is the founder and editor of The Idler and the author of How to be Idle, How to be Free, The Idle Parent and Brave Old World. In spring 2011 he founded The Idler Academy in London, a bookshop, coffeehouse and cultural centre which hosts literary events and offers courses in academic and practical subjects - from Latin to embroidery. Its motto is 'Liberty through Education'. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Idleness Bertrand Russell, 2020-08-26 Intolerance and bigotry lie at the heart of all human suffering. So claims Bertrand Russell at the outset of In Praise of Idleness, a collection of essays in which he espouses the virtues of cool reflection and free enquiry; a voice of calm in a world of maddening unreason. From a devastating critique of the ancestry of fascism to a vehement defence of 'useless' knowledge, with consideration given to everything from insect pests to the human soul, this is a tour de force that only Bertrand Russell could perform. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Wasting Time Alan Lightman, 2018-05-15 In this timely and essential book that offers a fresh take on the qualms of modern day life, Professor Alan Lightman investigates the creativity born from allowing our minds to freely roam, without attempting to accomplish anything and without any assigned tasks. We are all worried about wasting time. Especially in the West, we have created a frenzied lifestyle in which the twenty-four hours of each day are carved up, dissected, and reduced down to ten minute units of efficiency. We take our iPhones and laptops with us on vacation. We check email at restaurants or our brokerage accounts while walking in the park. When the school day ends, our children are overloaded with “extras.” Our university curricula are so crammed our young people don’t have time to reflect on the material they are supposed to be learning. Yet in the face of our time-driven existence, a great deal of evidence suggests there is great value in “wasting time,” of letting the mind lie fallow for some periods, of letting minutes and even hours go by without scheduled activities or intended tasks. Gustav Mahler routinely took three or four-hour walks after lunch, stopping to jot down ideas in his notebook. Carl Jung did his most creative thinking and writing when he visited his country house. In his 1949 autobiography, Albert Einstein described how his thinking involved letting his mind roam over many possibilities and making connections between concepts that were previously unconnected. With In Praise of Wasting Time, Professor Alan Lightman documents the rush and heave of the modern world, suggests the technological and cultural origins of our time-driven lives, and examines the many values of “wasting time”—for replenishing the mind, for creative thought, and for finding and solidifying the inner self. Break free from the idea that we must not waste a single second, and discover how sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. |
| in praise of idleness: The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959 Bertrand Russell, 1992 Selections from his autobiography, popular essays, works on philosophy, psychology, history, mathematics, and international relations. |
| in praise of idleness: Essays in Idleness 吉田兼好, 1998 The Buddhist priest Kenko clung to tradition, Buddhism, and the pleasures of solitude, and the themes he treats in his Essays, written sometime between 1330 and 1332, are all suffused with an unspoken acceptance of Buddhist beliefs. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays Bertrand Russell, 1976 |
| in praise of idleness: The Blue Day Book Bradley Trevor Greive, 2010-03-30 Tenth anniversary ed. features hand-colored photo enhancements and illustrated endpapers and new foreword. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays , 1963 |
| in praise of idleness: Books for Idle Hours Donna Harrington-Lueker, 2019-08-30 The publishing phenomenon of summer reading, often focused on novels set in vacation destinations, started in the nineteenth century, as both print culture and tourist culture expanded in the United States. As an emerging middle class increasingly embraced summer leisure as a marker of social status, book publishers sought new market opportunities, authors discovered a growing readership, and more readers indulged in lighter fare. Drawing on publishing records, book reviews, readers' diaries, and popular novels of the period, Donna Harrington-Lueker explores the beginning of summer reading and the backlash against it. Countering fears about the dangers of leisurely reading—especially for young women—publishers framed summer reading not as a disreputable habit but as a respectable pastime and welcome respite. Books for Idle Hours sheds new light on an ongoing seasonal publishing tradition. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Idleness Bertrand Russell, 2017-06-06 Bertrand Russell is considered “the Voltaire of his time,” and Bradley Trevor Greive is considered one of the funniest people of his. Russell was a Nobel Laureate, and Greive is a New York Times bestselling author. Together, with Russell bringing the philosophy and Greive bringing the hilarious commentary, this book is a classic. In his celebrated essay, In Praise of Idleness, Russell champions the seemingly incongruous notion that realizing our full potential—and thus enjoying the greatest possible success and happiness—is not accomplished by working harder or smarter, but through harnessing the extraordinary power of idleness. Russell’s penetrating insights and exquisite turns of phrase feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were first written. Arguing that we can achieve far more by doing far less and that traditional wealth accumulation is a form of cultural and moral poverty, Russell demands greater depth from our age of abundant creativity and heralds the next wave of enlightened entrepreneurs. |
| in praise of idleness: Laziness Does Not Exist Devon Price, 2021-01-05 From social psychologist Dr. Devon Price, a conversational, stirring call to “a better, more human way to live” (Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author) that examines the “laziness lie”—which falsely tells us we are not working or learning hard enough. Extra-curricular activities. Honors classes. 60-hour work weeks. Side hustles. Like many Americans, Dr. Devon Price believed that productivity was the best way to measure self-worth. Price was an overachiever from the start, graduating from both college and graduate school early, but that success came at a cost. After Price was diagnosed with a severe case of anemia and heart complications from overexertion, they were forced to examine the darker side of all this productivity. Laziness Does Not Exist explores the psychological underpinnings of the “laziness lie,” including its origins from the Puritans and how it has continued to proliferate as digital work tools have blurred the boundaries between work and life. Using in-depth research, Price explains that people today do far more work than nearly any other humans in history yet most of us often still feel we are not doing enough. Filled with practical and accessible advice for overcoming society’s pressure to do more, and featuring interviews with researchers, consultants, and experiences from real people drowning in too much work, Laziness Does Not Exist “is the book we all need right now” (Caroline Dooner, author of The F*ck It Diet). |
| in praise of idleness: An Apology for Idlers Robert Louis Stevenson, 2009-08-27 An irresistible invitation to reject the work ethic and enjoy life's simple pleasures (such as laughing, drinking and lying in the open air), Robert Louis Stevenson's witty and seminal essay on the joys of idleness is accompanied here by his writings on, among other things, growing old, visiting unpleasant places and the overwhelming experience of falling in love. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are |
| in praise of idleness: Love in Idleness Amanda Craig, 2007-12-18 In her delightful reimagining of A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Amanda Craig slyly serves up a witty cross-cultural farce, a modern-day tale of love and lies set against the magical landscape of Tuscany. When Theo, a workaholic lawyer, his English wife Polly, and their two children rent an idyllic Italian villa, they expect a relaxing summer holiday together. Polly, with her loved ones’ romantic interests at heart, has invited an eccentric mix of friends and family along--including three eligible bachelors, a former model, an Indian-British divorcee with a young son, and her own appalling mother-in-law. They soon discover the Casa Luna is a strange, enchanted place where people find their heart's desire—but at a price. Everyone falls in love, though not with the people they expect, and the results are surprising and hilarious. |
| in praise of idleness: Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance (New Edition) Anthony Gottlieb, 2016-08-30 His book...supplant[s] all others, even the immensely successful History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.—A. C. Grayling Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. This landmark study of Western thought takes a fresh look at the writings of the great thinkers of classic philosophy and questions many pieces of conventional wisdom. The book invites comparison with Bertrand Russell's monumental History of Western Philosophy, but Gottlieb's book is less idiosyncratic and based on more recent scholarship (Colin McGinn, Los Angeles Times). A New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Best Book, and a Times Literary Supplement Best Book of 2001. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of Failure Costica Bradatan, 2023-01-03 Squarely challenging a culture obsessed with success, an acclaimed philosopher argues that failure is vital to a life well lived, curing us of arrogance and self-deception and engendering humility instead. Our obsession with success is hard to overlook. Everywhere we compete, rank, and measure. Yet this relentless drive to be the best blinds us to something vitally important: the need to be humble in the face of life’s challenges. Costica Bradatan mounts his case for failure through the stories of four historical figures who led lives of impact and meaning—and assiduously courted failure. Their struggles show that engaging with our limitations can be not just therapeutic but transformative. In Praise of Failure explores several arenas of failure, from the social and political to the spiritual and biological. It begins by examining the defiant choices of the French mystic Simone Weil, who, in sympathy with exploited workers, took up factory jobs that her frail body could not sustain. From there we turn to Mahatma Gandhi, whose punishing quest for purity drove him to ever more extreme acts of self-abnegation. Next we meet the self-styled loser E. M. Cioran, who deliberately turned his back on social acceptability, and Yukio Mishima, who reveled in a distinctly Japanese preoccupation with the noble failure, before looking to Seneca to tease out the ingredients of a good life. Gleefully breaching the boundaries between argument and storytelling, scholarship and spiritual quest, Bradatan concludes that while success can make us shallow, our failures can lead us to humbler, more attentive, and better lived lives. We can do without success, but we are much poorer without the gifts of failure. |
| in praise of idleness: Unpopular Essays Bertrand Russell, 2009-03-04 A classic collection of Bertrand Russell’s more controversial works, reaffirming his staunch liberal values, Unpopular Essays is one of Russell’s most characteristic and self-revealing books. Written to combat... the growth in Dogmatism, on first publication in 1950 it met with critical acclaim and a wide readership and has since become one of his most accessible and popular books. |
| in praise of idleness: The Conquest of Happiness Bertrand Russell, 2015-08-27 The Conquest of Happiness is Bertrand Russell‘s recipe for good living. First published in 1930, it pre-dates the current obsession with self-help by decades. Leading the reader step by step through the causes of unhappiness and the personal choices, compromises and sacrifices that (may) lead to the final, affirmative conclusion ofThe Happy Man |
| in praise of idleness: Authority and the Individual Bertrand Russell, 2009-09-01 From Ancient Greek philosophy to the French Revolution to the modern welfare state, in Authority and the Individual Bertrand Russell tackles the perennial questions about the balance between authority and human freedom. With characteristic clarity and deep understanding, he explores the formation and purpose of society, education, moral evolution and social, economical and intellectual progress. First of the famous BBC Reith lectures, this wonderful collection delivers Russell at his intellectual best. |
| in praise of idleness: Utopia Thomas More, 2019-04-08 Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects of More's description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries. |
| in praise of idleness: Red Skin, White Masks Glen Sean Coulthard, 2014-08-15 WINNER OF: Frantz Fanon Outstanding Book from the Caribbean Philosophical Association Canadian Political Science Association’s C.B. MacPherson Prize Studies in Political Economy Book Prize Over the past forty years, recognition has become the dominant mode of negotiation and decolonization between the nation-state and Indigenous nations in North America. The term “recognition” shapes debates over Indigenous cultural distinctiveness, Indigenous rights to land and self-government, and Indigenous peoples’ right to benefit from the development of their lands and resources. In a work of critically engaged political theory, Glen Sean Coulthard challenges recognition as a method of organizing difference and identity in liberal politics, questioning the assumption that contemporary difference and past histories of destructive colonialism between the state and Indigenous peoples can be reconciled through a process of acknowledgment. Beyond this, Coulthard examines an alternative politics—one that seeks to revalue, reconstruct, and redeploy Indigenous cultural practices based on self-recognition rather than on seeking appreciation from the very agents of colonialism. Coulthard demonstrates how a “place-based” modification of Karl Marx’s theory of “primitive accumulation” throws light on Indigenous–state relations in settler-colonial contexts and how Frantz Fanon’s critique of colonial recognition shows that this relationship reproduces itself over time. This framework strengthens his exploration of the ways that the politics of recognition has come to serve the interests of settler-colonial power. In addressing the core tenets of Indigenous resistance movements, like Red Power and Idle No More, Coulthard offers fresh insights into the politics of active decolonization. |
| in praise of idleness: Tacky Rax King, 2021-11-02 An irreverent and charming collection of deeply personal essays about the joys of low pop culture and bad taste, exploring coming of age in the 2000s in the age of Hot Topic, Creed, and frosted lip gloss—from the James Beard Award-nominated writer of the Catapult column Store-Bought Is Fine” Tacky is about the power of pop culture—like any art—to imprint itself on our lives and shape our experiences, no matter one's commitment to good taste. These fourteen essays are a nostalgia-soaked antidote to the millennial generation's obsession with irony, putting the aesthetics we hate to love—snakeskin pants, Sex and the City, Cheesecake Factory's gargantuan menu—into kinder and sharper perspective. Each essay revolves around a different maligned (and yet, Rax would argue, vital) cultural artifact, providing thoughtful, even romantic meditations on desire, love, and the power of nostalgia. An essay about the gym-tan-laundry exuberance of Jersey Shore morphs into an excavation of grief over the death of her father; in You Wanna Be On Top, Rax writes about friendship and early aughts girlhood; in another, Guy Fieri helps her heal from an abusive relationship. The result is a collection that captures the personal and generational experience of finding joy in caring just a little too much with clarity, heartfelt honesty, and Rax King's trademark humor. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL |
| in praise of idleness: The Passing of the Idle Rich Frederick Townsend Martin, 2023-10-02 Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision. |
| in praise of idleness: The Praise of Folly Desiderius Erasmus, 1913 |
| in praise of idleness: The Pursuit of Laziness Pierre Saint-Amand, 2011-05-09 We think of the Enlightenment as an era dominated by ideas of progress, production, and industry--not an era that favored the lax and indolent individual. But was the Enlightenment only about the unceasing improvement of self and society? The Pursuit of Laziness examines moral, political, and economic treatises of the period, and reveals that crucial eighteenth-century texts did find value in idleness and nonproductivity. Fleshing out Enlightenment thinking in the works of Denis Diderot, Joseph Joubert, Pierre de Marivaux, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Jean-Siméon Chardin, this book explores idleness in all its guises, and illustrates that laziness existed, not as a vice of the wretched, but as an exemplar of modernity and a resistance to beliefs about virtue and utility. Whether in the dawdlings of Marivaux's journalist who delayed and procrastinated or in the subjects of Chardin's paintings who delighted in suspended, playful time, Pierre Saint-Amand shows how eighteenth-century works provided a strong argument for laziness. Rousseau abandoned his previous defense of labor to pursue reverie and botanical walks, Diderot emphasized a parasitic strategy of resisting work in order to liberate time, and Joubert's little-known posthumous Notebooks radically opposed the central philosophy of the Enlightenment in a quest to infinitely postpone work. Unsettling the stubborn view of the eighteenth century as an age of frenetic industriousness and labor, The Pursuit of Laziness plumbs the texts and images of the time and uncovers deliberate yearnings for slowness and recreation. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions. |
| in praise of idleness: EGO IS THE ENEMY Ryan Holiday, 2019-04-08 Buku yang Anda pegang saat ini ditulis dengan satu asumsi optimis: Ego Anda bukanlah kekuatan yang harus Anda puaskan pada setiap kesempatan. Ego dapat diatur. Ego dapat diarahkan. Dalam buku ini, kita akan melihat orang-orang, seperti William Tecumseh Sherman, Katharine Graham, Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bill Walsh, Benjamin Franklin, Belisarius, Angela Merkel, dan George C. Marshall. Bisakah mereka mendapatkan yang telah mereka dapatkan sekarang—menyelamatkan perusahaan yang hampir bangkrut, menguasai seni peperangan, menjaga kekompakan tim bisbol, merevolusi strategi rugbi, melawan tirani, dan menghadapi ketidakberuntungan—jika ego menguasai mereka dan membuat mereka hanya memikirkan diri sendiri? Hal yang membuat mereka sukses adalah pemahaman terhadap realitas dan kesadaran—sesuatu yang pernah dikatakan oleh seorang penulis dan ahli strategi Robert Greene, “kita perlu menyerupai laba-laba dalam sarangnya”. Itulah inti dari kehebatan mereka, kehebatan penulisan, kehebatan desain, kehebatan bisnis, kehebatan dalam pemasaran, dan kehebatan kepemimpinan mereka. Yang kami temukan saat mempelajari orang-orang tersebut adalah mereka selalu memiliki dasar berpikir, berhati-hati, dan realistis. Tidak ada satu pun dari mereka yang tidak memiliki ego sama sekali. Akan tetapi, mereka tahu cara meredamnya. Tahu cara menyalurkannya dan melepaskannya, ketika ego muncul. Mereka hebat namun tetap rendah hati. Sebentar, tunggu dulu, tetapi ada juga beberapa orang yang memiliki ego tinggi dan sukses. Bagaimana dengan Steve Jobs? Kanye West? Beberapa dari mereka mempelajari kerendahan hati. Beberapa orang memilih ego. Beberapa mempersiapkan diri untuk perubahan nasib, positif ataupun negatif. Yang lainnya tidak siap. Yang mana yang akan Anda pilih? Akan menjadi siapakah Anda? Yang pasti, Anda telah memilih buku ini karena merasa bahwa Anda membutuhkan menjawab pertanyaan itu, cepat atau lambat, sadar atau tidak sadar. |
| in praise of idleness: Stoicism and Mental Health Bertrand Russell, 2011-10-01 |
| in praise of idleness: The Refusal of Work David Frayne, 2015-11-15 Paid work is absolutely central to the culture and politics of capitalist societies, yet today’s work-centred world is becoming increasingly hostile to the human need for autonomy, spontaneity and community. The grim reality of a society in which some are overworked, whilst others are condemned to intermittent work and unemployment, is progressively more difficult to tolerate. In this thought-provoking book, David Frayne questions the central place of work in mainstream political visions of the future, laying bare the ways in which economic demands colonise our lives and priorities. Drawing on his original research into the lives of people who are actively resisting nine-to-five employment, Frayne asks what motivates these people to disconnect from work, whether or not their resistance is futile, and whether they might have the capacity to inspire an alternative form of development, based on a reduction and social redistribution of work. A crucial dissection of the work-centred nature of modern society and emerging resistance to it, The Refusal of Work is a bold call for a more humane and sustainable vision of social progress. |
| in praise of idleness: Russell Revisited Alan Schwerin under the auspices of the Bertrand Russell Society, 2009-03-26 Bertrand Russell has played a central role in the development of modern western philosophy, especially analytic philosophy. An appreciation of the main themes and arguments of the thinkers who contributed to this modern movement in philosophy must include references to and analyses of Russell’s important contributions. It would seem that many do recognize the significance of his thought and have shown this in a somewhat dramatic manner. Russell’s Google number, for instance, is about 2.35 million. If the number of entries listed in this search engine is any indication of the level of interest online in Russell, we can surely conclude that the thought and life of this aristocratic English philosopher, logician and humanist still captures the imagination of tens of thousands, if not millions around the globe – even some thirty-seven years after his death. How do we account for this abiding interest in Russell? In a word it is accessibility. Whether it is the complex epistemological issue of the veracity of sense-data, the conundrums associated with the possibility of non-existent objects, the intricacies of the debates on the nature of language or the interminable search of a clear understanding of happiness, Russell inevitably has something profound and clear to say on the matter. Readers of Russell Revisited: Critical Reflections on the Thought of Bertrand Russell will be reminded of this fact time and time again as they explore the analyses here. Representing some of the best of the most recent scholarship on Russell, the articles gathered in this collection serve as a testament to the value of Russell’s diverse contributions to a wide range of challenging philosophical issues. |
| in praise of idleness: On Education Especially in Early Childhood Bertrand Russell, 1926 |
| in praise of idleness: The Will to Doubt Bertrand Russell, 2014-12-02 One of modern history’s great thinkers takes on prejudice, superstition, and conventional wisdom, using wit and insight to argue for a rational way of life. In a brilliant series of essays, Bertrand Russell uses challenging skepticism and sharp humor to attack the obstacles to building a society based on reason. Russell’s thoughts are as lively and pertinent today as when they were written. His topics range from the defects of the education system to the failure of the belief among the younger generation, from our mistaken concepts of democracy to the ever-present threat to freedom throughout the world—even in the West which prides itself so much on being free. |
| in praise of idleness: The Wellness Syndrome Carl Cederström, Andre Spicer, 2015-02-04 Not exercising as much as you should? Counting your caloriesin your sleep? Feeling ashamed for not being happier? You may be avictim of the wellness syndrome. In this ground-breaking new book, Carl Cederström andAndré Spicer argue that the ever-present pressure to maximizeour wellness has started to work against us, making us feel worseand provoking us to withdraw into ourselves. The Wellness Syndromefollows health freaks who go to extremes to find the perfect diet,corporate athletes who start the day with a dance party, and theself-trackers who monitor everything, including their own toilethabits. This is a world where feeling good has becomeindistinguishable from being good. Visions of social change havebeen reduced to dreams of individual transformation, politicaldebate has been replaced by insipid moralising, and scientificevidence has been traded for new-age delusions. A lively andhumorous diagnosis of the cult of wellness, this book is anindispensable guide for everyone suspicious of our relentless questto be happier and healthier. |
| in praise of idleness: Justice in War-time Bertrand Russell, 2007-12-01 Justice in War-time, first published in 1916, is a collection of Bertrand Russell's essays on war. He claims that humans have an instinct toward war, but that this instinct needs to be sufficiently roused in order to spark conflict. He analyzes British foreign policy during the ten years before the First World War in an effort to discover how England may have contributed to the problem. The essays included in this volume are: . An Appeal to the Intellectuals of Europe . The Ethics of War . War and Non-Resistance . Why Nations Love War . The Future of Anglo-German Rivalry . Is Permanent Peace Possible? . The Danger to Civilization . The Entente Policy, 1904-1915. A Reply to Professor Gilbert Murray British philosopher and mathematician BERTRAND ARTHUR WILLIAM RUSSELL (1872-1970) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Among his many works are Why I Am Not a Christian (1927), Power: A New Social Analysis (1938), and My Philosophical Development (1959). |
| in praise of idleness: The Control of Nature John McPhee, 2011-04-01 While John McPhee was working on his previous book, Rising from the Plains, he happened to walk by the engineering building at the University of Wyoming, where words etched in limestone said: Strive on--the control of Nature is won, not given. In the morning sunlight, that central phrase--the control of nature--seemed to sparkle with unintended ambiguity. Bilateral, symmetrical, it could with equal speed travel in opposite directions. For some years, he had been planning a book about places in the world where people have been engaged in all-out battles with nature, about (in the words of the book itself) any struggle against natural forces--heroic or venal, rash or well advised--when human beings conscript themselves to fight against the earth, to take what is not given, to rout the destroying enemy, to surround the base of Mt. Olympus demanding and expecting the surrender of the gods. His interest had first been sparked when he went into the Atchafalaya--the largest river swamp in North America--and had learned that virtually all of its waters were metered and rationed by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' project called Old River Control. In the natural cycles of the Mississippi's deltaic plain, the time had come for the Mississippi to change course, to shift its mouth more than a hundred miles and go down the Atchafalaya, one of its distributary branches. The United States could not afford that--for New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and all the industries that lie between would be cut off from river commerce with the rest of the nation. At a place called Old River, the Corps therefore had built a great fortress--part dam, part valve--to restrain the flow of the Atchafalaya and compel the Mississippi to stay where it is. In Iceland, in 1973, an island split open without warning and huge volumes of lava began moving in the direction of a harbor scarcely half a mile away. It was not only Iceland's premier fishing port (accounting for a large percentage of Iceland's export economy) but it was also the only harbor along the nation's southern coast. As the lava threatened to fill the harbor and wipe it out, a physicist named Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson suggested a way to fight against the flowing red rock--initiating an all-out endeavor unique in human history. On the big island of Hawaii, one of the world's two must eruptive hot spots, people are not unmindful of the Icelandic example. McPhee went to Hawaii to talk with them and to walk beside the edges of a molten lake and incandescent rivers. Some of the more expensive real estate in Los Angeles is up against mountains that are rising and disintegrating as rapidly as any in the world. After a complex coincidence of natural events, boulders will flow out of these mountains like fish eggs, mixed with mud, sand, and smaller rocks in a cascading mass known as debris flow. Plucking up trees and cars, bursting through doors and windows, filling up houses to their eaves, debris flows threaten the lives of people living in and near Los Angeles' famous canyons. At extraordinary expense the city has built a hundred and fifty stadium-like basins in a daring effort to catch the debris. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strategies and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking in his vivid depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those who would attempt to wrest control from her--stubborn, often ingenious, and always arresting characters. |
| in praise of idleness: In Praise of the New Knighthood Saint Bernard (of Clairvaux), 2000 The monk and the knight -- the two quintessentially medieval European heroes -- were combined in the Knights Templar and in the other military orders founded in the era of the Crusades. With characteristic eloquence, Bernard of Clairvaux voices the cleric's view of knights, warfare, and the conquest of the Holy Land in five chapters on the knights' vocation. Then the cistercian abbot who never visited Palestine and discouraged monks who proposed doing so, in another eight chapters, provides a spiritual tour of the pilgrimage sites guarded by this 'new kind of knighthood and one unknown to ages gone by.' |
| in praise of idleness: The Theory of the Leisure Class (Annotated) Thorstein Veblen, 2020-03-14 Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), by Thorstein Veblen, is a treatise on economics and a detailed social critique of conspicuous consumption, based on social class and consumerism, derived from social stratification. of people and the division of labor, which are social institutions of the feudal period (9 to 15 c.) that have continued until the modern era. Veblen claims that the contemporary lords of the mansion, the entrepreneurs who own the means of production, have been employed in the economically unproductive practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure, which are useless activities that contribute neither to the economy nor to production material of the useful goods and services required for the functioning of society, while it is the middle class and the working class that usefully work in the industrialized and productive occupations that support the whole of society.Conducted in the late 1800s, Veblen's socioeconomic analyzes of business cycles and the consequent pricing policy of the U.S. economy and the emerging division of labor, by technocratic specialty (scientist, engineer, technologist, etc.), proved to be predictions. precise and sociological of the economic structure of an industrial society. |
| in praise of idleness: Hours of Idleness Baron George Gordon Byron Byron, 2012-08 Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy. |
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