Dear Friends,
It seems to me, excessive idleness is as corrosive to the soul as sulfuric acid is to limestone. As the old saying goes, “An idle mind is the Devil’s playground.” Idleness creates boredom, which becomes a desire to create chaos for entertainment. What’s more interesting than chaos? Moreover, getting used to idleness builds an ethic of laziness… just as a person used to hard work builds a work ethic. Then there’s the fact you only live once. This is your chance to make a difference, get written down in history books, or live a fulfilled, healthy, and happy life. All of which are made impossible by idleness. The simple fact is this, you’ll have eternity to be idle, you only have a few decades to be active. So the wise will seize the opportunity… Carpe Diem.
Why be alive if you’re dead? The idle might as well be dead for all they do. In fact, death is preferable to life for the lazy, because in death there’s nothing to do but be idle. Life is meant for action. In a state of nature there are no lazy animals. It’s what economists call perfect competition… where, if any animal gets ahead, others quickly shoulder their way in and drive the profit to zero. In such a paradigm, the idle are trampled underfoot, since they haven’t even the energy to get their own food… they’ll starve. It’s only when capitalism or violence are used that idleness even becomes possible. In capitalism, because of the surpluses it creates, and violence, by enslaving others and taking their production from them, as is the case with kings, governments, and slavers.
An idle mind is the Devil’s playground and idle hands are the Devil’s tools… because idleness creates boredom and the bored want excitement. Whether they be kings, the idle rich, or wire pullers, the leisure class want to be entertained. So they create chaos. More to the point, who has more time, money and spare energy to create chaos than the leisure class? Whereas the hard working are entertained. So the hard working need not have chaos. It upsets their work. This makes idleness a danger to the economy, people, and society. Since chaos destroys them all. Economies require order, people are harmed by crime, and society is people acting in good faith. Moreover, the idle often couldn’t care less that they serve the Devil. It’s very entertaining.
Rest is for recharge… not discharge. The idle discharge their energy in a resting state. Unlike normal people who rest to build energy, so they can expend that energy in an active state. One can’t work all the time, we need leisure time to recharge. At the end of the day, who doesn’t need to turn their mind off for a few hours or risk tossing and turning all night? On the other hand, who thinks that turning one’s mind off all day and night leads to wisdom, intelligence, and foresight? Indeed, idleness creates stupidity, ignorance, and clouds the vision. Which is why the idle rich think they’re so much smarter, wiser, and better people than the rest of us. Because their idleness has made them stupid. And we all know there is no one more self-assured than an ignoramus. They don’t know any better.
The wise person then seeks leisure occasionally, as a way to recharge, learn, and prepare for the next campaign. While the foolish seek leisure as a way of life. As that idleness corrodes their life outcomes, minds, and souls. The lazy have an ethic of ease, the minds of the idle run in neutral, and the souls of the bored are in perpetual danger of damnation. There’s only negative outcomes to idleness, there’s no upside. Yet our culture teaches kids that idleness is the ideal life… a life squandered. That seems to be what the elite want for us. For us to be as worthless as they. Idle, on welfare, ignorant, or at least ill-informed. Making us useless. It’s up to us then to build a work ethic, learn, be industrious, and therefore be a benefit to mankind, ourselves, and our loved ones… as we ridicule idleness.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
