I remember as a child hearing the phrases, “Idleness is the devil’s playground” or the “The devil makes work for idle hands”. It suggested that being busy was more virtuous and therefore, great activity was something to aspire to. I get the general point that doing absolutely nothing at all is unhealthy, but I think in our fervour for saintly work we have lost the art of necessary relaxation. We have forgotten the benefits of sitting quietly with just our own thoughts and doing nothing. You wouldn’t drive your car continuously without stopping for petrol. You could say that it’s a poor analogy as we stop for sleep and we stop to eat, but even those times are largely interrupted and punctuated with other actions. We no longer focus on doing just one thing at a time; we multitask continuously even during leisure times.
