This one, especially, will be sticking with me.
"There is a great difference between one idler and another idler. There is someone who is an idler out of laziness and lack of character, owing to the baseness of his nature. If you like, you may take me for one of those. Then there is the other kind of idler, the idler despite himself, who is inwardly consumed by a great longing for action who does nothing because his hands are tied, because he is, so to speak, imprisoned somewhere, because he lacks what he needs to be productive, because disastrous circumstances have brought him forcibly to this end. Such a one does not always know what he can do, but he nevertheless instinctively feels, I am good for something! My existence is not without reason! I know that I could be a quite a different person! How can I be of use, how can I be of service? There is something inside me, but what can it be? He is quite another idler. If you like you may take me for one of those."
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5 comments:
I'll have to think about that. I like to think that some of my idleness is a hand-tied type, but I fear that the primary thing that ties my hands IS laziness. If the end result is that nothing happens, I'm not sure if it's a whole lot better to be the second type. :/
1st, I think if you've got kids, you're not idle.
2nd, better or not, it's still qualitatively different. Just describes a variation in the reality landscape that we may be missing. And, i think it points to hope, patience & process. Sometimes there is a dormancy period while things underground are gearing up to fuel a growth spurt or blossom. If that's what's going on within me, then it helps to relax and not load the shame (there, that goes back to your SCL/naked post) of "laziness" on, when it's really something else entirely. Shame eats up the energy needed for growth. The recognition that this time IS being used (just no fruit yet), nurtures the possibility of something yet to come.
That's how I see it anyway.
Yeah, I can get on board with the dormancy thing. And I agree that we can give too much time to guilt, but I think that reflecting on how we use our time and determining if it's a growth period or a lazy period is probably a beneficial thing.
And trust me, even with the kidlets, there's plenty of time for idleness!
An interesting quote indeed. And i liked that he was honest enough to state which side of things he felt he was on.
I also wanted to thank you for stopping by the "dojo". Hope you have a great weekend.
Hi Samurai! Glad you stopped by.
Yes, I'd run across a Van Gogh quote, loved it, and started googling them. He's good some great quotes.
See ya around~
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