In preparation for our presentation, entitled 'Idleness is a virtue', I have begun to read Tom Hodgkinson's How to be Idle (2004). In his book, Hodgkinson, as I can ascertain thus far, sets about the task of displaying the virtues of idleness in a humorous manner, although at all times hinting at a serious undertone. He does this by denoting the 24 chapters of the book to the 24 hours of the day, and within each chapter examines the virtues of a particular 'idle quality' which is typical of that time of the day. Chapter 1, which 'begins at 8am' focuses on the idle quality of not been able to wake up. Hodgkinson shows us examples throughout history of respected academic figures and literary figures who have been notorious late risers, including (in no particular order) Louis Theroux, Dr. Johnson and Jerome K. Jerome. He then builds an argument that attacks the promptness obsessed culture of the western world, and furthermore insists that the time which one 'snoozes' in between waking-up and getting-up can be considered one of the most mentally productive periods of the day. During this 'snooze' period, or period of 'slumber', Hodgkinson insists that, rather than violently shirking ourselves from the blissful comfort of our duvets, we can slowly immerse our consciousness with the issues that need to be dealt with on that particular day and eventually enter the woken world of toils and troubles with greater clarity of mind.
I sympathise with Hodgkinson's stance that there are many vices and inconveniences of the western world. I am steadfastly unconvinced upon meditation on the matter that the merits of our materialistic capitalist system do indeed outweigh the downfalls, as we are so often led to believe. Likewise I consider the price we have paid for establishing a capitalist economy and pushing it upon the world is a high one, for we have abandoned many principles learnt through the epochs that contribute to a valued and 'good' life. What I cannot agree with, however, is the notion that Hodgkinson puts forward that indeed early rising is un-natural and un-healthy. My problem with an argument that one can wake whenever he wants without even considering the implications of his actions is that it is ignorantly non-self-sufficient. To link to my previous quote on this blog, concerning Sartre's take on freedom, I do agree that we are indeed free to be late risers if we wish, but we should understand the context of our actions. The only reason we can rise late from our slumber, if we wish to do so, is that we live in a socially reciprocal world and as such other people are providing services and means to assist our survival which provide an environment where we can indeed stay in bed until mid afternoon if we wish. Upon a recent trip to northern Thailand, where I spent some time staying in the the Acca villages of the hilltribe regions, the fundamental importance of early rising and it's unmistakable link with the rising and setting of the sun became apparent to me. In this village setting, where there is no mains electricity or water, and often not even roads to link the villages to the main infrastructure of the region, the people of the Acca tribes are self sufficient, especially concerning agriculture. When I was there, in August, the villagers woke at 5:00am when the sun rose and were in the fields and hills working their crops by 6:00am. This was an imperative procedure for their harvesting of crops for survival. At that time of year the sun starts to set at 4pm and if they decided they wanted to be late risers and get to the fields for crop harvesting at, say 11am, they would not guarantee themselves enough daylight hours to complete their work, thus - failing to provide sufficient produce for the village population and in a worse case scenario, leading to starvation.
What I am trying to demonstrate here is that these tribal peoples, closer to our fundamental natural consciousness than here in the western world, have no choice but to be early risers. The only reason we here in the west can afford to rise late is because somebody elsewhere is supplying our means of survival by waking and labouring when we do not. By all means have a lie-in tomorrow morning. Indeed who am I to tell you to do otherwise? My only request is that in doing so you consider the notion that it is not your fundamental right to do so and that you are relying on the labour of others to assist your idleness.
1 comment:
In reply to Olli’s Post
I think Tom Hodgkinson is writing from a very privileged point of view, where he is in fact “able to be idle”.
I’m not sure I agree with his “Snoozing” theory, I personally would actively avoid waking up to thoughts of issues that are imposed upon me daily; my snoozing is purely for snoozing. However I can see his point in theory, the snoozing or contemplatitive time spent waking up is a far more civilised way to enter the day.
In western culture emphasis is continually being put on the importance of “Using out time well” our culture provides us with gadgets and gimmicks which enable us to “save time” thus allowing us to fill it with something else, to use this free time for something productive. We fail to see that being “idle” has its on productiveness. In fact I think as opposed to Hodgkinsons Ideas about waking up slowly it would be far more beneficial to have regular short “Idle rests” throughout the day, giving time to both the body and the mind to recuperate, reflect and relax before continuing with daily obligations, I believe that would make us achieve more and feel happier. Just look at some Eastern cultures, in China and Japan for example, in some factories they start the day with group Tai chi in an effort to give to the workers to enable them to give more to the company.
By nature I think we are probably quite idle, given the choice (to use Hodgkinsons example) most people would stay in bed as opposed to going to work, however I also think part of human nature is its constant want to do more, see more and experience more so we realise in order to do what we want there are things eg working for money we have to do.
He talks about “unnatural and unhealthy rising” this statement I do agree with in parts, for example if we take the winter months in England we see that people do not enjoy getting up in the dark and then coming home in the dark, I think this is unnatural. According to science we must wake up to daylight (and preferably sunlight) to enable our bodies to produce and regulate serotonin, essential for mood stabilising and generally health. Vitamin D is produced from sunlight, and also essential to our general well being so it is no wonder that animals hibernate during this cold and hostile period. I think as humans we could also have our own form of hibernation, that sees people only getting up when its daylight.
However I do agree with your (Olli) sentiment, we must consider what/who allows us to wake up late etc, to understand and (dare I say) even care about our actions in relation to others.
Having not been in Thailand to experience it I realise that the following is just a response to what Olli has written: Perhaps we should consider a “needs must” attitude it is (or is it?) possible that people who live in different socio-economic cultures, different climates etc still have the same sense of idleness as we do?
Our culture dictates an certain attitude that points us down a road of expectations, we must be educated to gain qualification that can provide us with a good income resulting in a “Good life” , perhaps to someone who works the fields, that is relative to our notion of “needs must” working towards our goal. I am by no means comparing our lives to theirs , I couldn’t, but I’m trying to illustrate a point, they understand what they do daily is necessary to the immediate community and then eco structure of the country to a degree, however I’m sure they have time in which to be idle, and because of the difference in culture and environment, they are not as many modern things to distract them, therefore their “Free time” might actually be a lot better than ours, as we are always filling our with something else?
Just a thought. By the way, I really enjoyed my lie in today.
Emma x
Post a Comment