This month, we are examining…idleness! Idleness represents both a coveted luxury (idleness as spare time), yet also carries a stigma few are willing to claim without risking judgment (idleness as laziness).
By contrast, somewhere on our journeys into adulthood, busy-ness became not only accepted, but encouraged and even celebrated. The inevitable attrition of idleness became normalised and any talk of ‘free time’ became acceptable only relative to how hard we have worked to deserve it.
How do our ideas around idleness influence the way we conduct our daily lives? What are these ideas telling us? How were they formed and dare we question them? During this event, we will deconstruct the concept of idleness and consider whether, as author Tom Hodgkinson suggests, “We need to rediscover the pleasurable, harmless and completely cost-free pleasures of simply doing nothing in particular”.
Optional background reading:
(1) https://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/26/uk.idler.hodgkinson.vacation/index.html (<5 minute read)
(2) Chapter 2, “9am Toil and Trouble” from this book: https://libcom.org/files/[Tom_Hodgkinson]_How_To_Be_Idle(Bookos.org).pdf (15 minute read)
Image credit: Photo by Noralí Emilio on Unsplash