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“Lediggang som sådan er ingenlunde roden til alt ondt – tværtimod – det er en sand guddommelig tilstand, når man ikke keder sig.”
“Idleness as such is in no way the root of all evil – on the contrary – it is a truly divine state of being, as long as you are not bored.”
(Quote by Søren Kierkegaard, and translation by the other Søren that you guys primarily know as the Flâneur Gardener.)
I can’t help thinking how fortunate that I stumbled upon this quote after a lovely weekend that was largely taken up with idleness. Sure, there was the odd constructive activity, but that will be for another entry. For now, I will dwell on what I do when I’m not doing anything.
I mainly sit inside now that it’s winter, but with the armchair pulled up to the large sitting room window so I can look outside. There is always a book next to me, or perhaps even in my lap, but a lot of the time I don’t open it – or if I do I don’t read it. I just sit, let time pass and follow my meandering thoughts wherever they take me.
Some times the thoughts or ideas that come into my head will prompt an action, like when I started building a kite Saturday night and then went out into the starry night and watched it soar above the garden.
Other times the thoughts are merely a means of processing Life; going over situations at work again and again to decipher what makes certain people behave in certain ways or thinking about how I can be the best possible husband to my husband. I’m a fairly bright cookie, but I’m not the fastest race car on the track; it takes time for me to process Life, and I can easily spend an entire evening in meditative idleness.
I love this time. I need it. It makes me a better person. And it is NEVER boring!
