On “The Importance of Being Lazy” by Al Gini

Lazy

I have just finished reading the above, following a recommendation on Slow Down Now

http://www.blog.slowdownnow.org/2008/02/26/time-poverty/

As Christopher Richards, creator of Slow Down Now and author of the above-linked blog, says, it is a worthwhile read! I won’t provide you with a full review, as Chris does a pretty good job of that himself, but I will partially quote herewith the comment I have just posted on his blog…

How does one, as a relatively powerless individual, reconcile conceding that modern western society is indeed a bit crap and unbalanced, with doing something about it/living in a society many of whose central precepts one is fundamentally opposed to…??

Any and all responses to this question will be gratefully received! :)

Published in: on May 9, 2008 at 6:51 am Comments (4)

Working Hard is a Virtue…

…only if what you work hard at is virtuous.

  :)

All That’s Wrong With Capitalism!

I think I may have mentioned elsewhere (on this blog or on some other online, as it were, “zone”) how much I hate The Apprentice. I mean, like… Gaaagghhh!!

It’s all that’s wrong with Capitalism!

Backstabbing, lying, cheating, selfishness and downright meanness… and that look on Alan Sugar’s face!

And people are entertained by this!

I’m so glad I only occasionally catch a few minutes before the far more agreeable Desperate Housewives:|

Published in: on at 6:40 am Comments (0)

Christianity… Jesus… Spirituality… Whatever…

What is Christianity?
What is spirituality?
What did Christ say?
What did He do?
What did He mean?
What should we do?
How should we live our lives?
What is God?
How should we “worship” God?
Who should we listen to?
What is the truth/Truth?
What does it mean to be a “good” Christian?
Should we go to church?
Should we pray?
Is/was Christ the Son of God?
Is/was Christ one of a number of equally relevant prophets/spiritual teachers?
Why are there so many darned versions of Christianity?!
What is Evil?
Where is God?
Should we listen to anyone but our inner selves?
Who knows?
Who cares?
What are the motives of our “spiritual leaders” now and in the past?
What is the Bible?
Is the Bible the “Word of God”?
Is the Bible the be-all-and-end-all?
How do we know God is not just messin’ wiv us, that it’s all not just a Big Game?
What’s the point of asking so many questions?
Are our personal, individual consciences the only real sources of truth (divine or otherwise) and morality?
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is my purpose?
What is the purpose/meaning of life?
Should we question, analyse and wonder, or just be… just live?
Do we even exist?

Amen (for now)

* * *

The above was inspired by and is a kind of response to…
http://stumblingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/warning-warning-there-may-be-diversions-ahead/

Published in: on May 6, 2008 at 6:52 pm Comments (3)

This Morning’s Headlines…

Children are Being Dumped on Schools for up to Ten Hours a Day

As is so often the case with this kind of thing, the implication is that the parents are bad parents, who don’t spend enough time with their kids, because they work too hard… Yes, they do work too hard… but whose fault is that? It could be their fault, or - more likely - it could be the fault of their employers, who are putting too much pressure on them to work harder and harder and harder. They could be workaholics, or they could feel they have to be workaholics in order to get on in their careers, lives, etc. Yes, there are always choices, but the perceived pressures of modern western society make those choices very hard to make - pressures such as the Protestant work ethic, which is still very much evident in 2008… which says… that working hard is good!… that we are defined by our work… that wanting to do less and slow down is lazy and… well… just wrong. We could change these attitudes individually, on a personal level, which is all well and good, and will often be enough… but what about the employers? The big corporations, the companies, who own us with their rules and regulations, which are perceived by the unthinking masses as being strict and unbendable (or virtually unbendable) moral codes?… The media, in telling these sorts of stories (children being left at school for too long, etc) do tend to focus, directly or indirectly, on the workers, the parents, the “workaholics” themselves, who are committing these crimes of neglect, but what of the bigger picture? What of the bosses, the companies, the immense social pressures to conform and keep up with their competitive peers? The media is powerful, but it does have a habit of using that power to attack individuals and the relatively powerless social groupings. Here’s a thought… how about using that power to attack those who actually make the rules, who pile on the pressure, who benefit (or think they do) from over-worked, over-stressed parents? How about using that power to attack the powerful, rather than piling the guilt onto those who are probably already drowning in an ocean of the stuff? Just a thought…

————————————————–

Bad Teachers Could be the Difference Between a Pass and a Fail

Well duh!

Published in: on May 5, 2008 at 7:26 pm Comments (5)

Talking About Sports

I have to confess, I don’t get it. People get so defensive! So intense! And people are such experts! Except they’re… erm… not. Or perhaps they are, I dunno, but unless you actually do it, how can you have such strong opinions on how other people do it? Boxing, football, cricket, whatever… and woebetide anyone who deigns to suggest anything so controversial as “it’s only a game”!

Actually, thinking about it, it’s not just sports which seem to incite this kind of intensity of fandom… videogames, for example… and probably other things which I haven’t thought of yet…

But sports attract it big time!

Oh yes!

Indeed they do!

And things…

Further Thoughts on ‘Nowism’

[ see also ‘Nowism’ ]

You know, I never would have thought that the fact that I presently own something of a surfeit of PS2 games would incite me to consider further my thoughts on “living in the now”… but it does! And it has!

Said surfeit is due (as I have probably mentioned elsewhere) to my fortune in having recently had a number of letters published in the Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine, as well as having received a number of games as gifts and paying very little actual cash for those I have actually paid for… and the reason it has caused me to consider further my thoughts on “living in the now” is that I have been kind of forced to rethink my approach to gaming – to whit, I am no longer so concerned or indeed intent on buying (or acquiring through some means) a game, completing it, trading it in, acquiring a new (well, probably second-hand) game, completing that, and so on and suchlike and so forth. I am more inclined, these days, to adopt something of a “pick’n’mix” approach… a sort of “dipping in”… playing a bit of this, a bit of that, and being less concerned with playing a game right through to the end – that’s not to say that I won’t, in time, complete (in some sense of the word, even if not necessarily actually arriving at the “100%” mark) some or all of them, but there is a much reduced sense of urgency regarding such…

So you see? It’s more about enjoying the games for now, in any particular half-hour gaming sesh (or whatever), rather than thinking about what games I will play in the future and so on… that’s not to say that I never think about what games I want to play, rather than what games I am playing… but… you know… not so much…

And stuff…

Published in: on at 8:37 pm Comments (0)

Violent Game Incites Violence!

Anyone seen today’s Metro? Apparently someone was stabbed whilst waiting in a queue outside Gamestation to buy a copy of the latest Grand Theft Auto! And someone else was mugged for a copy of the game! This is terrible! I mean, whoever heard of people committing violence in public places for something they really want?! It must be to do with the violent content of the game… :|

Published in: on April 30, 2008 at 6:25 pm Comments (0)

A Load of Old Tosh?

Yesterday at my place of “work,” an issue arose relating to the energy cost of the needless boiling of full kettles. I don’t want to go into the details, except to say that it sparked a conversation between two of my colleagues on whether or not Global Warming was “a load of old tosh.” They alluded to the possibility that it was all a big conspiracy theory and that any large-scale environmental changes that are presently occurring are purely natural and inevitable and there is not a squiddly-doo we can do about them. They made good points. And I accept these possibilities. They also mentioned that an eminent British politician – I believe they said it was Nigel Lawson, although forgive me if I have got this wrong or I misheard – is actually campaigning for us to stop taking action to prevent environmental catastrophe, on account of the fact that it is based on nothing and is adversely affecting the economy.

Now like I said, I accept the possibility that Global Warming is a load of old tosh, or if it is happening, it’s purely natural and there’s not a damned thing we can do about it… but… what if it’s not? A load of old tosh, that is. Are we willing to take that chance? Do any of us really know enough, can any of us be sure enough, to decide that we’re not going to do what we can to prevent a global environmental catastrophe that may or may not happen? I suppose it depends on how much we care about the future… how much we care about the state of the world we are bequeathing to our children… our children’s children…

Also… whether or not the pro-Green scientists etc have got it wrong, whether or not Global Warming is real and preventable, can we really deny that the products of the “Green Movement” are good things, positive things?… How we have been forced or at least encouraged to rethink our attitude towards how we use our resources… how we have had our eyes opened (even if only a sliver) to the fact that uncontrolled growth cannot be sustained forever… how normal, everyday folk are at least aware of the world around them and the life and biological systems upon it… how the word “ecology” has become known (even if not fully understood) by the general populace… Can we really say that we (our minds, our attitudes, our souls) have not benefited from these things?

Global Warming may or may not be happening… we may or may not be able to do anything about it… but we can help future generations to realise that the world does not purely exist for their benefit…

Conflict

…is not to be avoided, but confronted in the most amicable way possible.

  :)

Published in: on April 29, 2008 at 8:45 pm Comments (0)