In the Defense of Laziness
Everybody is talking about productivity recently. People have and want to become more productive. Why? Because everybody is talking about it. There is a kind of social pressure making everybody believe that moving around and being productive is the right thing to do. This morning I didn’t want to go to work, I wanted to be idle. However doing nothing is not my cup of tea and I quickly get bored. After all, pure idleness and boredomness is used as a white torture method for political prisoners and journalists.
To handle this boredomness, I started to write this essay to share with you, lucky reader, the virtues of laziness.
First, I voluntarily choose this word “laziness” for its negative connotation. I could have chosen idleness but it was too neutral like an idle printer ready to throw up your last report, or too positive like an idle child watching birds through the window. I wanted a negative word, one word which makes people say “ah he doesn’t work, he is lazy”.
Do you see this guy? The 20-something hikikomori enclosed in his room playing video-games or browsing on social media? Do you see this 40-something seated on his sofa with a beer in his right hand and the remote in the left? They are both disgusting lazy people doing nothing productive while you are sweating your gut out. Lazy!
Now I clarified this wording choice, I want to introduce you to two other lazy guys who are more accepted and appreciated by the society.
Tom is a 20 something travelling the world. After highschool he didn’t know what to do so he just took a backpack, few dollars from his parents, and he started his journey. Tom is on a budget so he hitchhikes, meet couchsurfers willing to host him, sometimes he camps in the wild. His main activity is travelling, moving, transporting his body from a place to another. This is already an activity per se, however Tom can be considered as a lazy person. Lazy because he doesn’t work, work in the sense that he doesn’t have a paid activity to sustain his life. Even if he doesn’t spend much, he is still using the money he receives from his parents… He is a kind of parasite sucking the energy of others. He surfs from couch to couch, parasitizing different host each week. However he gives value to his hosts, he talks to them, tells them stories and shares his terrific attitude. These things are neither green nor have a president face printed on it, however they have value. An immaterial human value.
Tom’s parents are annoyed because their son is not studying and preparing a life long career. Nonetheless, they are happy to know he is safe and having a great adventure. Tom is not seated in a lecture hall, although he learns a lot. His professors are himself and all the people he meets. On the way, Tom has the time to reflect on himself, to understand himself, to know what he wants in life.
Georges is a 40-something French viticultor. Some years ago, he invested in a vineyard. The wine he produces is very appreciated around the globe. He earns a lot of money from it. So much money that he doesn’t have to work anymore. Sometimes he goes to visit the field but it’s rather a hobby than a work. Georges prefers to read under the shade of a tree in his garden than managing field workers. He has many books he never had the time to read before, now he can. He swims in his swimming pool or go to hike in the amazing landscape of the south of France. He takes photo too, it’s a hobby he recently discovered. He feels free, free of doing only what he wants, free to wake up late or early, free to live. Now Georges takes time for himself, he does the things he wasn’t able to do when he was productive in his job. He feels relax and it’s good for his health.
Are you jealous of these two guys? You should because they understood that there is no need to rush in life. They understood the importance of taking time for themselves. They have the time to learn and to reach a higher level of self-awareness. For them laziness is very beneficial. But are these lazy people beneficial for you and the entire society?
Lazy people are egoistic, they stay in their bubble focusing on their navel. However most of lazy people live and interact with their family and friends. They are well integrated in the society.
Can we consider they bring you work? Since they are not competing on the job market, we can say that thanks to their laziness you are more competitive and get a job more easily. Someone who works and has the resources to live is taking the bread out of others mouth. He shouldn’t work. Thanks to lazy people you may have a job now.
With the 4th industrial revolution, more and more jobs will be automated. Humankind will rely on technology and many workers will become unemployed. This technology is an improvement for society since nobody will have to do 3D-jobs (dirty, dangerous, difficult). However the question is what are these people going to do? Let them rest, let them be lazy. We need to organize a smooth transition for these persons because a man who has hustled most of his life will be bored if suddenly idle. The process of becoming lazy is more complicated than it seems. It’s not only about violently giving people a universal unconditional salary to quit their hunger, it’s about empowering them to laziness so they find their real passion and purpose in life. Don’t you think it’s better for society to have people who are genuinely passionate by what they are doing instead of zombies running after money?
Lazy people can improve the working place in another way, by taking care of their health. When lazy people take care of their health, they also take care of your health. If there is no bacteria growing in their body, there will be less bacteria in the environment and so there is less chance for you to catch one of these silly creatures. Less bacteria, less illness. This is the way we exterminated deadly illness thanks to vaccination. Self awareness of your body needs is like a vaccine which protects others from getting sick. The society will become more productive because workers won’t get a cold and won’t take days off. Isn’t fun to think lazy people may contribute to increase a country’s productivity?
Laziness also protect the whole society against fascism or totalitarianism. When citizens have time to read and educate themselves, they become aware of the world of ideas and free their mind. Intellectuals usually enjoy to talk with others and share the knowledge they collected and curated. All this knowledge become available for the most thanks to these lazy scholars. The citizens possessing a diversity of knowledge and ideas have a deeper mind which is more difficult to manipulate and control. All dictatorship killed thinkers and burnt books to increase their power. Lazy scholars are the guardian of the democracy and of the freedom of thought. In the antic Athens, all citizens had to participate in the political life of the republic. They had to get involved in daily discussion to improve the life of the city. Being a merchant or working was outlawed. Only slaves were allowed to work in the antiquity while citizens dedicated their time to mind activities. If we work less and give more time for laziness, more people will engage in politics and we will create a real democracy.
The environment is also benefiting from laziness. People who don’t work, don’t use fuel to commute, don’t use electricity for their computer. They may even stop to over consume if they run out of money. Lazy people can stop consumerism, reduce waste and reduce human impact on the one Earth we have. As Pascal, a French philosopher, said: “All problems of the humanity come from the inability for the man to sit without doing anything in a room”. If humankind would be able to stop to work, there won’t be deforestation or mining anymore. A lazy life is more sustainable than a hardworking life.
Living slowly in a world free of any pression should be a human right. Everybody should have the time to understand themselves and know what they truly value in life, what they really want to dedicate their time to. Society should stop to consider laziness as parasitic or negative, but rather consider it as a bliss for humankind. Earth needs our laziness, it needs us to stick to what really matters and stop over-wasting resources. Laziness can save the world. Be lazy!