In praise of purposelessness

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The Iconoclast

‹‹ Recycling

the two faces of Islam ››

Saturday, 28 October 2006

In praise of purposelessness

Tonight the clocks go back. We get an extra hour. How should we spend it?

How doth the little busy bee

Improve each shining hour

And gather honey all the day

From every op’ning flower…

In works of labour all of skill

I would be busy too

For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do

Just think – a whole sixty unforgiving minutes to fill with 3,600 seconds worth of distance run.

Sod that for a lark. I’m staying in bed. Busy is overrated. Here's Robert Louis Stevenson:

"Extreme BUSYNESS is a symptom of deficient vitality, and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity."

More here. Daydreaming, mooching - I don't know if that means the same in American English, thinking vaguely of Minnie the Moocher, who was a lowdown hoochy coocher (?) - pottering about, are all seriously underrated activities.

UK readers, you have an extra hour. Make the least of it.

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Posted on 10/28/2006 6:34 PM by Mary Jackson

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