Laziness: How we sometimes get ourselves into trouble

Everyone has the capacity for wisdom, “common sense”, or discernment. The lack of these things is borne out of the condition of laziness which I prefer to call ‘sloth’. For me, sloth connotes mental laziness rather than physical laziness. Someone who is a jetsetter, or highly productive, or simply very busy, can be mentally lazy or sloth. Through popular perception – possibly a perception skewed by Judeo-Christian values, such as the Protestant Work Ethic - the extremely busy, highly productive jetsetter represents the best component of a well-functioning society. We can produce. We are prosperous. Therefore: we are secure and satisfied.

A person opts for the mode of laziness thinking this is how he will avoid conflict, effort, and suffering. To follow a script or take the prescribed path seems like the easy route to success or, at least, satisfaction. But eventually his laziness and desire to avoid conflict, effort, and suffering gets him into ultimate suffering and dissatisfaction.

The sloth tends to be supremely preoccupied with the appearance of productivity, prosperity and therefore secure. It’s a cover up for his lack of ideas, imagination, and creativity. The sloth lacks ideas, imagination and creativity because he is sloth. He has shut down mentally. For the sloth, the easiest thing to do is to feign. This is where materialism and the preoccupation with consumer products come from. It is easier, first of all, to fall in line and to vigorously perform a script directed by someone or something else, and second of all, to then adorn oneself with the symbols of productivity, prosperity, and therefore security and satisfaction.

There is a certain sense of security – perhaps a true sense of security – that comes out of the acknowledgement of one’s originality and the ability to creative something original. If it’s a true sense of security, it’s because it is self-sustaining. Originating and creating yields confidence (i.e. security), and confidence yields originality and creativity. It’s self-balancing and therefore harmonious, therefore ultimately satisfying.

Not only is the lazy mind prone to assuming pretense, but it is also highly susceptible to buying into pretense. The sloth has surrendered his mind to be informed by any passing whim, fashion, desire, or scheme. The sloth had, at some point, decided that he will no longer think for himself and concede to any (and even, every) prevailing notion presented by another, because it’s more important to appear as though he fits in, as though he understands. It’s not that so much that it is more important to appear as though he understands the world; it’s actually more important to the sloth to do what is easier, and that is, to pretend than it is to be.

It’s always easier to imitate, to follow, to subscribe. It’s also always easier to throw money at something – or someone – than it is to be with that person. To be in love with that person. To be a parent to that person. To be a friend to that person. To be that person.