So, I missed a day of writing. I’m very proud to say that I’ve been very busy. Why proud? In Western society, busyness is a virtue, and many people, particularly the chattering classes, see busyness as a desirable trait. I must admit that my real sentiment is that busyness is wholly undesirable. I follow Emil Cioran’s admission that he is quite happy to watch the hours tick by without attempting to fill them.
But why do some people find this busyness such a desirable thing, and why are they so eager to communicate the fact that they are busy, busy, busy? The dynamics of these proud claims are quite easy to understand. If a person is busy, they are communicating that they have greater survival fitness; that’s all. It’s a crass statement that their social, business and any other life are so vibrant that they hardly know where to turn. Of course, the implication is that they are busier than you and possess greater survival fitness. If you are silly enough to want to engage with such a person, they might tell you they need to consult their schedule to see if they can fit a waster like you into their busy, busy, busy life. If possible, they will make you feel like you are privileged indeed if they fit you in, you second-rate excuse for a human being with time on your hands.
Busyness is a mental illness. All the busy people I have ever known are like skaters on thin ice; they must keep moving, or they will drop through the ice into the murky depths of their nightmarish psyche. Just keep moving, and then nasty thoughts around death and inner emptiness can be avoided. What, an hour empty in your busy schedule? Maybe pencil in a sauna or an extra session with your shrink because the antidepressants are not working. That’s better; there are no scary holes in an otherwise packed schedule, like sardines in a can.
I’ve been unfair to the chattering classes; they are not the only ones desperate to avoid any holes in their schedules. Most people are like this; it’s just that the chattering classes are far more likely to wear their busyness like a badge of honor. I’ve known mothers who cannot see their children without pushing them out for a couple of weeks because their schedules are so busy. Friends who need to schedule a get-together a month or two out. All this is because people find unfilled hours scarier than brain surgery. Of course, busyness is heavily promoted in our secular society because we are all supposed to run at full capacity. Businesses don’t want someone happy with a sedate pace, and “friends” don’t want someone who isn’t in demand.
I fully recommend that a person develops the art of watching the hours tick by without attempting to fill them.