
Idleness as Flourishing - blegh
https://www.publicbooks.org/idleness-as-flourishing/
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monster_group
I have learnt to value idle time over the last few years. I realized how
privileged I am to have idle time. Many people are not that lucky - they have
to work multiple jobs just to put food on the table. They have no time and
money to pursue hobbies. Few years ago I always used to feel that I should be
doing something productive with my time. I still value productivity but now I
also value idle time equally. It has made a big difference in contentment
level in my life. I don't feel life is whizzing by while I am busy working. I
literally stop to smell roses, watch the sunset, look at the night sky. It's
great.

~~~
dorchadas
That's honestly the main reason I'm still in my current job. I get plenty of
idle time that I don't have to waste, and the pay (and benefits) are pretty
good, even if I don't really like the job itself and the location.

 _But_ , I'm also really of the mind that I should still be productive with
every moment of my life; at least in so far as "productive" means "making
money". That's simply because I just want to retire ASAIP, regardless of age.
When it comes down to it, though, it still seems like I love the idle time
more, and always choose it when I can (which is great that I'm able to)

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pattle
I always long for a life of idleness but financial constraints and my personal
life are preventing it. I often dream of owning a house in the country with a
few acres of land so I can live a life of seclusion, spending my days
pottering about and indulging in hobbies.

I find that these days I rarely get any significant time to myself without
interruptions of some kind. Like the article suggests this stifles my
creativity because I can't think deeply enough about a subject before I'm
distracted. It's true with my current lifestyle I get more done but it's less
meaningful.

~~~
extragood
Minimizing your commute goes a long way without having to physically remove
yourself to some desolate region.

If you spend 2 hours commuting every day, then that's 2 hours that are
essentially wasted, that could be used to cultivate idleness (or other, less
idle activities).

I am so much happier to have all but eliminated my commute by living close to
my office. Even when I was taking the train and could read, listen to music,
play games, etc, those were always compromise activities and didn't contribute
to my personal happiness.

Other people have suggested meditation/mindfulness as a solution, but that
isn't necessarily the only way forward.

~~~
danans
I agree that commute minimization is a game changer for freeing up time.

But it is a privilege.

Unless you happen to be very secure in your quickly-commutable job, or located
a short commute distance from a variety of different job opportunities, you
are at high risk of losing that short commute.

This is exacerbated in places like SV that have disparate job and housing
centers, and extremely steep housing costs near those job centers.

> Even when I was taking the train and could read, listen to music, play
> games, etc, those were always compromise activities and didn't contribute to
> my personal happiness.

I've found that my short train commute (25 min) is a great time to memorize
the compositions for an instrument that I play, with the help of a metronome
app while viewing the sheet music on my phone.

It's far more relaxing than reading the news, for certain.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
_But it is a privilege._

I suspect that it's mostly down to undervaluing our time. Although we all
complain about the hell of driving in traffic or riding on a busy train very
few people are willing to compromise their income to avoid it. We probably get
what we deserve.

~~~
danans
I agree that we undervalue our time ... until we start to value it more, and
then often it's too late (or expensive) to make a change to free more of it,
and then the complaining commences.

I also think that this may have more to do with housing costs than income
potential, given that there is a steep cliff of decreasing housing
affordability associated with proximity to work, especially in knowledge-
sector dominated areas.

This is usually the opposite in manufacturing industry dominated areas (i.e.
the Rust Belt), where people often pay more to live farther away (and
upwind/upstream) from the environmental externalities created by manufacturing
facilities.

------
imranq
In praise of idleness by Bertrand Russell is a great read on this topic

But also keeping a journal and writing everyday and analyzing the thoughts you
have is incredible for slowing down time and cutting out fluff in life.

~~~
Koshkin
The opportunity to be idle is the greatest and, at the same time, the most
underappreciated gift given to the man. No other animal, who is constantly in
search of food, shelter, etc. can afford that.

~~~
eseehausen
Most animals- at least megafauna- don't spend all day in search of food,
shelter, etc. They almost all have daily periods of idleness.

~~~
elindbe2
Cats of all kinds would be a good example.

~~~
imranq
And parrots. No natural predators and spend most of their day eating from lush
forests. Seems like they were born to be idle.

------
hateful
"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." \- Bertrand Russell

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jmrvn
Idle time can be dangerous as well if your not in the right frames of mind.
There’s a part of the brain called the default mode network that is associated
with self referential thoughts and social thinking, which gets turned on when
we are doing nothing. Essentially the part of ththe brain responsible for
brain wandering, and generally the brain wanders to places where there are
problems and it wants to solve it. So if your in a phase of life where your
dealing with lots of ‘problems’ it might be better not to sit idly.

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peachia
It's true that O'Connor's book doesn't really address idleness "in the face of
urgent need," but I disagree with this article that it needs to. Before we can
begin to justify the kind of idleness "in the face of urgent need" that is
effectively "indifference to suffering," we have to first justify the lesser
kind of idleness that is indifference to society's supposed needs, which I
think O'Connor's book does adequately. Idleness has been dismissed by Kant and
friends as a moral vice on the grounds that it's our "duty" to maximize our
"usefulness" and "worth" to society. To alleviate others' suffering is a
different matter entirely, and making an argument for idleness in that case is
probably a lot more difficult.

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newnewpdro
Nothing is something worth doing.

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draw_down
I haven't read either, but O'Connor sounds more on the right track. The value
of idleness is not that it will make you more productive or better at your job
after you stop being idle; it's valuable in its own right. Work is important,
but I think it's pathological to vaunt it as we do in our society, just as
it's pathological to completely shirk it and live in squalor.

Basically, I just want to take a nap, much like O'Connor apparently. There is
a note of desperation, perhaps nervous disavowal of death, in our society's
insistence on always doing, always improving, always producing.

I haven't read either of these but I did enjoy "How to be Idle" by Tom
Hodgkinson years back: [https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Idle-Loafers-
Manifesto/dp/0060...](https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Idle-Loafers-
Manifesto/dp/0060779691)

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Tom Hodgkinson used to edit a periodical called The Idler which was always
full of thought provoking articles.

