The idle suffer

[bricklayer]

The idle suffer. Be they physically or spiritually idle, they suffer for it. Be they intellectually, emotionally or willfully idle, they suffer for it. Whether they are aware of it or not, the idle suffer.

The idle suffer. Not all that suffer are idle, but the idle suffer. Not all that are idle are idle of their own accord, but they suffer none the less.

We are processes. We are biological, intellectual, emotional and willful processes. We are defined by our changes, and because of this the idle suffer.

 

[Crandaddy]

Well, different types of idleness entail different types of suffering. But it seems to me you're correct that we are supposed to change and/or be active insofar as we're supposed to develop our capacities and/or not let them atrophy.

We're also to be perfect, even as God is perfect, and this requires that we allow him to lift us out of our sinful fallenness by restoring and perfecting the imago dei within us. This, of course, entails a type of change.

 

[Received]

Idleness can actually be wonderful, and a proven psychological cure for the maladies of busybody contemporaneity. See mindfulness.

It's not a matter of getting away from idleness. The busybody mentality is just as spiritually and psychologically vacuous as the life of the despairing stagnant. What makes the difference is awareness: if physically idle, awareness negates stagnation; the self becomes stimulated in a soothed way by appreciating being passively. If engaged in busyness, awareness keeps the self from dying amidst activity -- the type of death that passes by the really important stuff that we otherwise aren't aware of, most importantly our own goals and a savoring of the moment as we drive through it at varying speeds, even a hundred miles an hour.

So it's not idleness that's bad; if it were so, busyness would be salvation, and it sure as Hell isn't. It's awareness of our goals and a commitment to them that's the problem. And many times our goal is (as much as we suppress the whisper in our busy moments) to sit back and let the world around us soak all in. Call it the essence of the Sabbath, which isn't meant for a day divided from the week, but moments among our very days.

 

[Eudaimonist]

We are processes. We are biological, intellectual, emotional and willful processes. We are defined by our changes, and because of this the idle suffer.

I'll agree with this in the sense that idleness can lead to personal stagnation, instead of the active process of flourishing that we need.

I think that stagnation can lead to suffering because deep down we realize that we are wasting the amazing opportunity that our lives afford us. We fail to become what we could have become. We fail to heed our callings (our good daimon, or genius, representing our talents and potentials) in life, and there is a psychological price to pay.

I'll just add that idleness means to me the refusal to heed this call, not mere resting or taking time out in one's life for fun. There is room in one's life for such activities. There are several ingredients to the good life.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[juvenissun]

I'll agree with this in the sense that idleness can lead to personal stagnation, instead of the active process of flourishing that we need.

I think that stagnation can lead to suffering because deep down we realize that we are wasting the amazing opportunity that our lives afford us. We fail to become what we could have become. We fail to heed our callings (our good daimon, or genius, representing our talents and potentials) in life, and there is a psychological price to pay.

I'll just add that idleness means to me the refusal to heed this call, not mere resting or taking time out in one's life for fun. There is room in one's life for such activities. There are several ingredients to the good life.


eudaimonia,

Mark

What can you do even you do not idle? Think about history, billions of people in the past had the same idea like you have. Where are they now and how did they change this world? What is your chance of not becoming one of them even you do become what you could become?

 

[Eudaimonist]

Think about history, billions of people in the past had the same idea like you have. Where are they now and how did they change this world?

I don't think that personal flourishing requires changing the world in such a way that one achieves fame or an entry in some encyclopedia.

The change in the world that one should focus on first and foremost is in oneself, for the sake of oneself. Flourishing is a pattern of living along lines of excellence. That internal change may indeed change the external world, and one may find value in this, but I do not view internal change to be merely an instrumental means to external change. Internal change is fully an end-in-itself.

So, I don't judge the worth of a person's life by how much they've "changed the world", and I don't diminish the worth of their lives because they are dead.

What is your chance of not becoming one of them even you do become what you could become?

I will die, just like they did. I'm perfectly happy with that. My life, while I have it, is fully meaningful and purposeful. After I'm dead, it will be non-issue to me since I won't exist. In any case, for the rest of eternity, my life will always have happened. It will always have been worthwhile, and inviolate.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[juvenissun]

I don't think that personal flourishing requires changing the world in such a way that one achieves fame or an entry in some encyclopedia.

The change in the world that one should focus on first and foremost is in oneself, for the sake of oneself. Flourishing is a pattern of living along lines of excellence. That internal change may indeed change the external world, and one may find value in this, but I do not view internal change to be merely an instrumental means to external change. Internal change is fully an end-in-itself.

So, I don't judge the worth of a person's life by how much they've "changed the world", and I don't diminish the worth of their lives because they are dead.

I will die, just like they did. I'm perfectly happy with that. My life, while I have it, is fully meaningful and purposeful. After I'm dead, it will be non-issue to me since I won't exist. In any case, for the rest of eternity, my life will always have happened. It will always have been worthwhile, and inviolate.


eudaimonia,

Mark

If so, why do you devalue idleness? It could be a good self-improvement tool for many.

 

[bricklayer]

If so, why do you devalue idleness? It could be a good self-improvement tool for many.

To be idle is different than to rest or to wait.

Idle self-improvement is an oxymoron.

 

[juvenissun]

To be idle is different than to rest or to wait.

Idle self-improvement is an oxymoron.

OK, OK.

 

[Gottservant]

The idle suffer. Be they physically or spiritually idle, they suffer for it. Be they intellectually, emotionally or willfully idle, they suffer for it. Whether they are aware of it or not, the idle suffer.

The idle suffer. Not all that suffer are idle, but the idle suffer. Not all that are idle are idle of their own accord, but they suffer none the less.

We are processes. We are biological, intellectual, emotional and willful processes. We are defined by our changes, and because of this the idle suffer.

Wow! Really profound and wise! Hooray, a great post! I will definitely give it some thought...!

 

[Paradoxum]

But here is something I don't think you made quite clear... do the idle suffer?

 

[GrowingSmaller]

I agree with the op very much. I could laze and do nothing being out of work but choose to educate myself as much as possible and exercise. I do say we all need sleep though. Also the spirit could be interpreted as justifying work under any and all conditions. An evil boss' dream. But maybe thats an over Socratic treatment of a good post. Blessings.