Enjoyment and efficiency

“It will be said that, while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours of work out of the twenty-four.  In so far as this is true in the modern world, it is a condemnation of our civilization; it would not have been true of an earlier period.  There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency.  The modern man thinks that everything ought to be done for the sake of something else, and never for its own sake”. (Bertrand Russell, “In Praise of Idleness”).

How would you feel if you only had four hours of work a day? Would you be bored? Do you have enough interests and passtimes that you would welcome four hours only, or does a full day of work give your life a valuable structure you would miss? What are you working for? Money alone? What would you like to do for its own sake, rather than for the sake of money?

If you haven’t paused to answer these questions, here is your opportunity.

One Comment

  1. “Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted.” -John Lennon.
    Unfortunately most humans are not as wise as Epicurus, Russell or Lennon. Regretfully, the conservatives may be right, most people may waste their time, and not enjoy it. I suppose it depends on your view of human nature, I would like to agree with you but part of me isn’t so optimistic.

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