1/ We may constantly complain about our harried schedules, but the real joy-killer seemed to be the absence of any schedule at all. Considerably less happy than the just-rushed-enough, are those with lots of excess time. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
2/ Why is that we cannot really enjoy 'leisure mode' for long? Why does it cede power to 'productivity mode'? The productivity mode deserves credit for scientific progress and technological ingenuity. But it has also brought a “malady of infinite aspiration".
3/ A hunter-gatherer tribe in Africa has consciously created customs and rituals to counter this "malady of infinite aspiration"
4/ When a Ju/’hoan hunter returns with a big kill, the tribe perceives a danger that he might think his prowess elevated him above others. “We can’t accept this,” one tribesman said. “So we always speak of his meat as worthless. This way we cool his heart and make him gentle.”
5/ “insulting the hunter’s meat” is one of many
customs that discourages a destabilizing competition for status and avoids a concentration of power. The tribe also insists that the actual owner of the meat, the individual charged with its distribution, is not the hunter,...
customs that discourages a destabilizing competition for status and avoids a concentration of power. The tribe also insists that the actual owner of the meat, the individual charged with its distribution, is not the hunter,...
6/ but the person who owned the arrow that killed the animal,”. By rewarding the semi-random contributor of the arrow, the Ju/’hoansi kept their most talented hunters in check, in order to defend the group’s egalitarianism.
7/ Safeguarding leisure is work. While progress depends on pinning our hopes on a world that doesn’t yet exist, those who cannot stop planning for the future are doomed to labour for a life they will never fully live.
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