On Doing Nothing - J. B. Priestly

 

ON DOING NOTHING

[alert-success] ON DOING NOTHING - J.B. PRIESTLY

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  In 'On Doing Nothing' J.B. Priestley explores the theme of peace of mind. He explains that society as a whole would benefit from taking time out from their everyday work and being lazy for a period. "On Doing Nothing," was one of Priestly's radio talks which was later put together in the book “Open House”. 

Priestly describes a sunny day in this essay where he and his friend spent a day on a moor which was two thousand feet above sea level. A moor is a large area with not much going on in it. They spent the whole day on their backs in the soft grass. 

In the moor, there was neither colour nor sound to attract them. All they did was smoking, eating, and drinking from the cool spring water. They did not exchange any thought. They didn't make any plans. They didn't think of a single idea. They didn't even brag to each other. 

This was in contrast with the activity in the city. According to Priestley the greater mischief is being busy. He calls people to be lazy sometimes. He says that it is not want of energy but misdirection of energy that causes all the trouble in the world. 

Priestley says that his kind of doing nothing is the best way to fix all of the world's problems. Priestly wonders, If the Kings, Generals and Statesmen had taken a complete holiday in July 1914, the war might have been averted. Again, if the Statesmen who drew up the Versailles Treaty had spent a few days prior to this doing nothing, the world would have gained much. 

In America, the active life is celebrated. But the great writers of America like Thoreau and Whitman had great capacity to be idle. Wordsworth is perhaps the high priest of idleness, the art of ding nothing. All Wordsworth did was idling and staring at nature. 

Priestly ends by saying that If Wordsworth were living today, he would certainly recommend that the best thing to do for the next ten years is to lie flat on the back on a moor and do nothing.

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