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The recurrent heat this summer has induced a certain idleness, which, as it turns out, I cherish. The absence of pressure to keep a tightly regulated schedule is one of the greatest gifts of retirement. You’ll find me happily nodding off in the lawn chair during the middle of the day until I wake with start, heart racing: it’s a sin!<\/p>\n
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Acedia<\/strong>, or idleness, was indeed counted among the deadly sins, number 8, to be precise, after\u00a0pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, and\u00a0wrath. The concept dates back centuries to early monastic orders who needed structured rules and labor to maintain a functioning monastic life. Idleness was seen as threatening spirituality as well through restlessness, boredom and physical drowsiness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By the end of the 13th century the concept was increasingly applied outside of the cloister walls to the population in general, in parallel with the development of a new commercial economy based on chronological clock-time, rather than the agrarian calendar ruled by the seasons and religious festivals. Sloth was attacked as the enemy of an orderly and productive life. For all, that is, except the aristocratic classes where idleness was equated with a space where creativity could flourish. Those not engaged in productive labor scored an exception again! And justified it by pointing back to the Greek philosophers who held a renowned antipathy to labor.<\/p>\n With the rise of industry, and its need for punctual and synchronized labor, the condemnation of \u00a0idleness became more intense; racist tendencies were fed by condemning the “idleness” perceived in (poor) criminals and less civilized nations, ethnographers joining the church and state representatives in this approach. Language picked up on it as well – in German, for example, the words Faulheit (laziness) and F\u00e4ulniss (putrefaction) share the same root. Order, thrift and industry became hallmarks of the rise of industrial production, serving capitalism regardless of the welfare of those it exploited. Children were deemed to be ready to work at age 9 (even by Karl Marx!)\u00a0The one exception to this chorus of “reformers” was Marx’ son-in-law, Paul Lafargue, who wrote a brilliant treatise on “The Right to be Lazy,”\u00a0<\/em>but he was the only 19th century socialist who did not bow before the altar of industriousness.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heuermontage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_1567-copy.jpg?resize=890%2C668&ssl=1\")
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