Saturday, August 7, 2004

IN PRAISE OF IDLENESS The drawing on the right is by Paul Cox (illustration of one of the Jeeves and Wooster books of P.G. Wodehouse). How To Be Idle: "The art of living is the art of bringing dreams and reality together. I have a dream. It is called love, anarchy, freedom. It is called being idle. The lie-in - by which I mean lying in bed awake - is not a selfish indulgence but an essential tool for any student of the art of living. Idleness as a waste of time is a damaging notion put about by its spiritually vacant enemies. Introspection could lead to that terrible thing: a vision of the truth, a clear image of the horror of our fractured, dissonant world." The repressive labour ethos of the modern neo-con is close to the slogan 'Arbeit Macht Frei'. But, mind you, that labour ethos only applies to 'the others' - l'enfer c'est pour les autres: work till you drop dead. They don't want you to have time for thinking, dreaming, writing books, making art. Where would we be if writers, artists, thinkers hadn't taken the time to muse upon life? And what a heaven this earth would be if all those busybodies - working hard at making this our Eden into a hell of poverty and war - would be idle. Now what do you think about the art of not writing books: "Imaginary novels and incredible stories are being collected for posterity in an unconventional UK arts project, the Library of Unwritten Books." I prefer my books to be written. Though I must say I do have a painting in my mind that still waits for being painted. I have a good mind to relax this afternoon with a good book by P.G. Wodehouse, say A Gentleman of Leisure. 12:18:42 PM

© Copyright 2004 Hetty Litjens.