As I travel the country, a number of people have been asking me: What’s the Leisure Ethic?
Working 24/7… 24 hours a week; 7 months a year
While living in a 12’ x 12’, off-grid house, I noticed people reclaiming the right to be idle! They are ratcheting down from overdeveloped to developed, from too much to enough. Dr. Jackie expressed it to me once like this: part of the joy of simplifying one’s material life is that you don’t have to work long hours to buy and maintain a bunch of stuff. This leaves time for open-ended chats — like the kind I began to have in North Carolina. Doing nothing is a carbon neutral activity!
This Leisure Ethic, as I’ve come to dub it, isn’t laziness; it is an intelligent, holistic balance between doing and being. It is embodied by the Aymaran philosophy of “living well,” which includes enough (and not more) food, shelter, fresh air, and friendship.
What about you? Are there ways you have integrated leisure into your life? Is there a way to start working 24/7 (24 hours a week; 7 months a year) and still live well? Or do you believe in the good old Work Ethic as the basis of the American Dream?
Jenifer says
November 15, 2010 at 3:57 amGreetings
I just read that you are going to be speaking at Powell’s in my city, Portland. I hadn’t heard of your book until today but I’m intrigued. I have had a similar experience-12X15 foot cabin just outside of Denali Nt’l Park in Alaska. I found it to be one of the best chapters in my life and dream of having that kind of experience again. I think what stands in my way most are societal pressures-the awkward conversations with people who don’t understand and who do find that lifestyle “lazy”. Maybe this is naive, but I think if you’re an author, that type of lifestyle is easier to justify. At any rate, I’m curious to hear more about your experience and will make time in my evening to hear you speak.
Jenifer
BP says
November 16, 2010 at 4:32 pmHi Jenifer, Did we meet last night? What was it like in your 12×15? Are you going to do it again?