Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exacted will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaustion. Since men will not be tired in their spare time, they will not demand only such amusements as are passive and vapid. At least one per cent will probably devote the time not spent in professional work to pursuits of some public importance, and, since they will not depend upon these pursuits for their livelihood, their originality will be unhampered, and there will be no need to conform to the standards set by elderly pundits. But it is not only in these exceptional cases that the advantages of leisure will appear. Ordinary men and women, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less persecuting and less inclined to view others with suspicion. The taste for war will die out, partly for this reason, and partly because it will involve long and severe work for all. Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html
I believe I hold the common view that an extended period of idleness does more harm than good. At least that’d be the case for me. This is a very interesting essay nonetheless.
Speaking of essays, my english prof once lamented that nowadays people don’t seem to read essays much, even for the literate and intellectuals. I can’t help but agree. I think I do fall victim, tho to a much lesser degree than some, to the modern-day shortening of our attention span.
If something piques my interest, intellectually or else, then I have no problem staying with it. But even in such cases, essays do seem to be “a bit much”. Nowadays my normal reading consists of The Economist, NYTimes, and an assortment of blogs/websites on mostly Mac and Arsenal related news. As for novel, I was reading a lot of Ishiguro for a while, which was most definitely enjoyable. There was also Murasaki Kafka on the Shore.
But perhaps, instead of relying on idleness and waiting for “the moment”, I should actively try to read a bit more besides news analysis and novels. Perhaps, somewhere in there, I could make a little time for poetry and essays.
ps Although, one has to wonder if my personal decline of essay reading is due to the lack of supply or my own pursuit. Or have essayists simply moved on to the realm of the blogosphere?
