Idleness
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Idleness (from Middle High German müezec gân , idly going, being inactive, doing nothing, being lazy; from Old High German muozîg , having leisure) describes the pursuit of leisure , the relaxed living out of duties, not the recovery from special stressful situations or physical strain. He goes z. B. associated with intellectual enjoyment or light, enjoyable activities, but can also mean pure idleness.
In colloquial language, idleness - in contrast to leisure - has a negative connotation as vice and is usually associated with laziness . Laziness or indolence ( acedia ) is one of the seven main vices in Christian theology, the "roots" of venial sins or deadly sins . This assessment is expressed in the saying "Idleness is the beginning of all vice". A literary counterpoint to this proverb was set by Bertrand Russell in 1935 with his essay Praise of Idleness (original title: In Praise of Idleness ).
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote:
“ Work is getting a good conscience more and more on its side: the tendency to enjoyment is already known as the“ need for relaxation ”and is beginning to feel ashamed of itself. 'You owe it to your health' - that's how you talk when you 're caught out on a country trip. Yes, it could soon get to the point where you don't give in to a penchant for vita contemplativa (that is, to go for a walk with thoughts and friends) without self-contempt and a guilty conscience. "
Idleness or leisure was for a long time a privilege of the nobility, the upper classes and the clergy. Henri de Saint-Simon speaks, among other things, of a contrast between a “class of idlers” (nobility, clergy) and the industrialists , the “industrial class” (the whole working nation, led by industrialists, bankers, engineers and scientists). Idleness, however, was often linked to occupation with the liberal arts and education and was considered an indispensable basis for art and culture.
Also a fitting quote from Søren Kierkegaard :
"In itself, idleness is by no means the root of all evil, on the contrary, an almost divine life, as long as one is not bored."
literature
-
Bertrand Russell : In Praise of Idleness. George Allen & Unwin, London 1935
- Praise to idleness. Munich: dtv, 2019. ISBN 978-3-423-34955-0 .
See also
- Time out
- The right to be lazy
- leisure
- Criticism of the work
- boredom
- Sabbatical year
- Secondary virtue
- Wellness
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th ed., Ed. by Walther Mitzka , De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 496.
- ^ Friedrich Nietzsche: The happy science , fourth book, aphorism 329 "Leisure and idleness" ( KSA 3, p. 557).
- ^ Ruling class (es) , HJ Krysmanski, University of Münster
- ↑ see for example MDR: Idleness - but highly concentrated! ( Memento from March 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive )