‘Rather than seek the opportunities presented by changing circumstances, many still cling to the habits of yesterday.’ Photo: by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash
Nothing really matters: give up on the busyness, says Stephen Feltham
‘To leave space around and within us is to give ourselves the opportunity to indulge in spiritual breathing.’
The virtue of giving oneself space is seldom recognised. The concept of doing nothing is anathema for many – almost sinful – and yet doing nothing, paradoxically, can be a very constructive thing. The art of nothingness admonishes busyness and the need to fill one’s life with doctrine, thought and action. The lack of these things has conventionally implied an inadequacy or lack of achievement, even slothfulness (a deadly sin), but doing nothing is important because an awful lot of stuff can be going on when one is engaged in doing nothing. If this were not so, nature would not have provided us with that essential element to our lives: sleep. We all know that sleep is beneficial, and we are the better having indulged in it, so it follows that something is going on when we do it. It is not as if nothing is happening, even though one may not be conscious of it. Just think of the possibilities, therefore, of indulging in nothingness when one is conscious of it.
